Increasingly adoption of molecular tools for efficient typing, identification and surveillance against malaria parasites and vector mosquitoes, as an integral part of the malaria control programs, simple and affordable methods, with parsimonious reagents and equipment are essential ¹. BioWorld offers a simple Chelex-based technique for extracting malaria parasite and vector DNA from field collected mosquito specimens.

This kit allows isolation of DNA from 50 Samples for the identification of Anopheles species captured by pyrethrum spray catches or field screen catches of this insect. Following dissection to separate the head and thorax from the abdomen, each mosquito section was separately homogenized to isolate total DNA (including the parasite).

Extracted DNA is suitable as templates for PCR amplification using primers targeting arthropod mitochondrial nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide dehydrogenase (NADH) subunit 4 gene (ND4) to check DNA quality, a PCR for identification of Anopheles gambiae sibling species 2 and a nested PCR for typing of Plasmodium falciparum infection3.

1.Grimberg, J., et al. A simple and efficient non-organic procedure for the isolation of genomic DNA from blood.Nucleic Acids Res. 17, 8390 (1989).

2.Scott, J. A., Brogdon, W. G., Collins, F. H. Indentification of single specimens of the Anopheles gambiae complex by polymerase chain reaction. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 49, 520-529 (1993).

3.Duraisingh, M. T., Curtis, J., Warhurst, D. C. Plasmodium falciparum: detection of polymorphisms in the dihydrofolate reductase and dihydropteroate synthetase genes by PCR and restriction digestion. Exp. Parasitol. 89, 1-8 (1998).