Extraction and Purification of Plasmodium Parasite DNA

The isolation of high-quality genomic DNA is often the initial step for molecular genetic analyses and crucial to many applications within the molecular research of malaria. Criteria for quality of DNA are purity, stability, and integrity and size of the molecules. Quantity also often is an important issue, particularly for material with limited resources. There are probably as many DNA-isolation protocols and techniques available as malaria research groups. Nevertheless, only a few protocols fulfill the abovem entioned criteria, although generally they all work according to the same principle. Several commercial DNA isolation kits are also available, purifying DNA on affinity matrices. These kits are costly and are difficult to adapt to various amounts of starting material, but allow complete standardization, high throughput, and automation.