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13:39
Protocol for Production of a Genetic Cross of the Rodent Malaria Parasites
Published on: January 3, 2011
Close kinship within multiple-genotype malaria parasite infections
Standwell C Nkhoma1, Shalini Nair, Ian H Cheeseman
1Department of Genetics, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio, TX 78227, USA.
Proceedings. Biological Sciences
|March 9, 2012
Summary
Multiple malaria parasite genotypes within a single host are common. Surprisingly, these parasites are often related, challenging the traditional superinfection model and suggesting new transmission dynamics.
Area of Science:
- Malariology
- Population Genetics
- Infectious Disease Dynamics
Background:
- Multiple Plasmodium parasite infections (MIs) are common and crucial for understanding parasite evolution, including drug resistance and virulence.
- MIs are typically assumed to arise from superinfection, where a host is infected by multiple mosquitoes sequentially.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the genetic relatedness and origins of multiple malaria parasite genotypes within individual infections.
- To challenge the prevailing superinfection model by examining parasite haplotype composition in different transmission settings.
Main Methods:
- Isolated 336 Plasmodium parasite clones from patients in Malawi (high transmission) and Thailand (low transmission) using dilution cloning.
- Genotyped parasite clones using 384 single-nucleotide polymorphisms to identify distinct haplotypes within infections.
Main Results:
- Identified 22 distinct haplotypes in Malawi (2-6 per MI) and 15 in Thailand (2-5 per MI).
- Found that parasites within individual infections were predominantly related, with higher similarity within than between infections.
- Observed related haplotypes in all six Thai patients and six of eight Malawian patients.
Conclusions:
- Results contradict the simple superinfection model for malaria parasite acquisition.
- Related parasite haplotypes may result from the inoculation of multiple related sporozoites from a single mosquito bite.
- Immune suppression of parasite subpopulations and serial transmission of related parasites could also explain observed kinship patterns.
- The maintenance of parasite relatedness has significant implications for malaria transmission, host immunity, and intra-host parasite dynamics.
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