Department of Protozoology
 Nagasaki Univ   Institute of Tropical Medicine Department of Protozoology Kaneko Pf Contamination
CROSS CONTAMINATION OF THE P. FALCIPARUM STRAINS
Pf clone's Origin Compiled by Osamu Kaneko, (Feb/7/1999 update)
Robson KJH et al, Proc R Soc Lond B 242: 205-216 (1990)
"An intriguing aspect of this study is the identification of TRAP sequence in 5 separate llines of P. falciparum. Three of these lines (FCR3, Palo Alto, Wellcome) originated in Africa, two (FCB, ITO) from South America. Because of the large number of mutations in other lines, we considered such identity among geographically distant sources surprising. The polymorphic Th2R/Th3R regions of the CSP gene were therefore examined and likewise found to be identical in these lines. Use of the plasmid probe pC4.H32 (Dolan S et al. 1990) to compare interspersed repetitive DNA sequences from these lines in question failed to distinguish them, again suggesting that they have a common provenance. This leads us to conclude that this group of parasite lines have at some stage in their history become cross-contaminated."
Triglia T et al, Mol Cell Biol 11(10): 5244-5250 (1991)
Probing HindIII-digested DNA from a number of isolates showed that FCR3, ItG2(& B8), FCB were derived from the same parent, since they gave the same pattern of bands with a repetitive probe (Cowman AF et al JCB).
News "Cross-contamination of Plasmodium Cultures" Robson KJH et al, Parasitol Today 8(2): 38-39 (1992)
TABLE I:
GROUP 1 that are considered to have same origin
Line Supposed origin
Clone T9/94 Thailand
FCR3 and its clone FCR3/A2 Gambia
BW and its clones BW/C10, BW/D Nigeria
Wellcome Nigeria
FCB-1 Colombia
Clone ItG2F6 Brazil
ITO4 Brazil
CBI Kampuchea
PAC+ Uganda

GROUP 2 that are considered to have same origin
Line Supposed origin
Clone T9/96 Thailand
TZ Tanzania
NF7 Ghana
MAD21 Papua New Guinea
Clone FCH5/C2 Tanzania
Letter "FCR3, Chloroquine Resistance and Cross-contamination of Culture Lines of Plasmodium falciparum" Trager W, Parasitol Today 9(4): 127 (1993)
Reply to Robson's paper
Su XZ et al, Exp Parasitol 89: 262-265 (1998)
FVO and SUD 106/1 share quite similar fingrprinting pattern.
Kaneko O et al. Exp Parasitol 93, 116-119 (1999)
FVO, FCB, FCR3/A2, and SUD106/1 show quite similar microsatellite pattern (Su XZ, personal communication).
Miller LH et al. Mol Biochem Parasitol 59, 1-14 (1993)
The MAD20 DNA fingerprint is identical to FC27 (Saul A. personal communication).
Fandeur T et al, Exp Parasitol 84, 1-15 (1996)
Geneva = Indo I/CDC = FVO
Pitiful report from Kaneko (Oct/14/2005)

D10 and MAD20 have identical sequences for a couple of genes that I am working on.
This is not surprising because D10 is derived from FC27........ and MAD20=FC27 has been already reported as above.
What a time/money-wasting!!
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