Gametocyte production in cloned lines of Plasmodium falciparum.

Gametocyte production by cloned lines of Plasmodium falciparum and their parental isolates has been studied in culture over periods of several months. Many isolates differed significantly from each other in their capacity for gametocyte production. Clones derived from an individual isolate were also widely different in capacity for gametocyte production. Consistent differences in gametocyte production were observed between clones which had always been grown concurrently and thus had identical culture histories. Levels of gametocytogenesis characteristic of individual clones, although subject to transient fluctuations under environmental influence, were stable over several months.