RESUMEN
Stages life cycle of the malaria parasite differ in the rate of replication and the structural properties of functionally active A-, S-, and O-type ribosomes. Regions of A-type rDNA including ITS1, 5.8S, and ITS2 from two strains of Plasmodium vivax with different incubation periods were amplified and sequenced. No substantial differences in the sequences of two strains were revealed. Phylogenetic analysis of the obtained and homologous sequences of ITS1 rDNA of A, S, and O types of P. vivax; A and S types of P. falciparum; and Cryptosporidium parvum, Eimeria maxima, Toxoplasma gondii as outgroup, by the maximum parsimony method using PAUP 4.0 revealed that divergence of ITS1 might have occurred after speciation and at different rates in individual lineages of the Plasmodium genus. Basing on the results of the analysis of orthologous sequences of P. vivax and P. falciparum, we developed genus- and species-specific primers for PCR diagnostics of malaria, as well as a one-step effective method of DNA isolation from Giemsa-Romanovsky-stained thick blood smears. It was demonstrated that stained preparations could be a reliable source of plasmodial DNA, and the quality of preparations and storage time (10-20 years) did not interfere with the results of PCR analysis.