Plasmid generation and transfection

For imaging of the mitochondria, a cell line where ATP-Synthase F0 Subunit D (Pf3D7_0311800) had a C-terminal spaghetti-monster HA tag was generated (Figure 5—figure supplement 2). To create the Pf3D7_0311800 smHA HDR plasmid, the 3D7_0311800 5′ and 3′ homology regions were PCR amplified from 3D7 genomic DNA with oligonucleotides oJDD4893/oJDD4894 and oJDD4891/oJDD4892, respectively. The two pieces were fused together using Sequence Overlap Extension PCR (SOE PCR) using oJDD4891/oJDD4894 and the piece was digested with NotI/XhoI and ligated with T4 ligase to generate pSAB55. To create the PF3D7_0311800 targeting guide RNA plasmid, oJDD4889/oJDD4890 were annealed, phosphorylated, and ligated into BpiI-digested pRR216 to generate pSAB81. All oligonucleotide sequences are shown in Table 1.

For transfection, 100 µg of pSAB55 plasmid was linearized with StuI and transfected into 3D7-Cas9, along with 100 µg of pSAB81. A day following transfection, parasites were treated with 5 nm WR99210 until 13 days, when resistant parasites were detected.