Malaria is the number one killer of children in the world (Amexo, Barnish, Bates, & Tolhurst, 2004). Roughly 300 million people are affected by malaria, and each year approximately two million people die from the disease (MicrobiologyBytes, 2009). From these statistics, it is apparent that a vaccine for malaria is in dire need. This research as a whole focuses on creating an edible vaccination by isolating proteins from each lifecycle stage of Plasmodium falciparum, a protozoan. After all proteins have been isolated, transgenic carrots will be created. These carrots will produce antigens for all three target genes, which will then create antibodies when ingested, taking the place of traditional vaccines. The main goal of this specific part of the research is to isolate MSP1_19 and insert it into pGEM-T easy vector as well as a plant expression (pSAT) vector, so that when the time comes, it can be altered into the carrot’s genome. |