The nucleotide sequence of the dihydrofolate reductase-thymidylate synthase (DHFR-TS) gene in pyrimethamine-resistant (PyrR) mutants of Plasmodium falciparum selected in vitro was examined to determine if specific mutations in DHFR were associated with drug resistance. We analysed the sequence of genomic DNA from strain FCR3, from eight previously isolated PyrR parasites derived from FCR3, and from strain Honduras-1. We found that: (1) five PyrR FCR3 mutants, FCR3-D4-D8, had an identical nucleotide change and a novel single amino acid change (Phe to Ser) at amino acid 223 of DHFR; (2) our originally reported nucleotide sequence of the DHFR-TS gene was of the PyrR strain Honduras-1, and was not of FCR3; (3) three PyrR mutants, FCR3-D1, D2, and D3, thought to have been derived from the FCR3 strain, were in fact isolates of Honduras-1. We also examined the chromosomal DNA of PyrR mutants by pulsed-field gradient gel (PFG) electrophoresis. The PyrR mutants FCR3-D1, D2, and D3 had several chromosome size polymorphisms compared to FCR3. In two of the PyrR FCR3 mutants, FCR3-D7 and D8, the chromosome 4-size DNA of FCR3 that the DHFR-TS probe normally hybridised to was not observed. Instead, in FCR3-D7, a chromosome larger than the chromosome 4-size DNA was observed to hybridise to the DHFR-TS probe. In FCR3-D8, two chromosomes that hybridised to the DHFR-TS probe were found. One of them was larger than FCR-3 chromosome 4-size DNA, and the other was smaller than FCR3 chromosome 1-size DNA.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)