RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Plasmodium vivax causes the majority of malaria episodes outside Africa, but remains a relatively understudied pathogen. The pathology of P. vivax infection depends critically on the parasite's ability to recognize and invade human erythrocytes. This invasion process involves an interaction between P. vivax Duffy Binding Protein (PvDBP) in merozoites and the Duffy antigen receptor for chemokines (DARC) on the erythrocyte surface. Whole-genome sequencing of clinical isolates recently established that some P. vivax genomes contain two copies of the PvDBP gene. The frequency of this duplication is particularly high in Madagascar, where there is also evidence for P. vivax infection in DARC-negative individuals. The functional significance and global prevalence of this duplication, and whether there are other copy number variations at the PvDBP locus, is unknown. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using whole-genome sequencing and PCR to study the PvDBP locus in P. vivax clinical isolates, we found that PvDBP duplication is widespread in Cambodia. The boundaries of the Cambodian PvDBP duplication differ from those previously identified in Madagascar, meaning that current molecular assays were unable to detect it. The Cambodian PvDBP duplication did not associate with parasite density or DARC genotype, and ranged in prevalence from 20% to 38% over four annual transmission seasons in Cambodia. This duplication was also present in P. vivax isolates from Brazil and Ethiopia, but not India. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: PvDBP duplications are much more widespread and complex than previously thought, and at least two distinct duplications are circulating globally. The same duplication boundaries were identified in parasites from three continents, and were found at high prevalence in human populations where DARC-negativity is essentially absent. It is therefore unlikely that PvDBP duplication is associated with infection of DARC-negative individuals, but functional tests will be required to confirm this hypothesis.
Assuntos
Antígenos de Protozoários/genética , Duplicação Gênica , Malária Vivax/parasitologia , Plasmodium vivax/genética , Proteínas de Protozoários/genética , Receptores de Superfície Celular/genética , Adolescente , Antígenos de Protozoários/metabolismo , Brasil , Camboja , Proteínas de Transporte , Criança , Sistema do Grupo Sanguíneo Duffy/metabolismo , Eritrócitos/metabolismo , Eritrócitos/parasitologia , Etiópia , Feminino , Humanos , Índia , Madagáscar , Malária Vivax/metabolismo , Masculino , Filogenia , Plasmodium vivax/classificação , Plasmodium vivax/isolamento & purificação , Plasmodium vivax/metabolismo , Proteínas de Protozoários/metabolismo , Receptores de Superfície Celular/metabolismoRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B has been predominant in Brazil, but no broadly effective vaccine is available to prevent endemic meningococcal disease. To understand genetic diversity among serogroup B strains in Brazil, we selected a nationally representative sample of clinical disease isolates from 2004, and a temporally representative sample for the state of São Paulo (1988-2006) for study (nâ=â372). METHODS: We performed multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) and sequence analysis of five outer membrane protein (OMP) genes, including novel vaccine targets fHbp and nadA. RESULTS: In 2004, strain B:4:P1.15,19 clonal complex ST-32/ET-5 (cc32) predominated throughout Brazil; regional variation in MLST sequence type (ST), fetA, and porB was significant but diversity was limited for nadA and fHbp. Between 1988 and 1996, the São Paulo isolates shifted from clonal complex ST-41/44/Lineage 3 (cc41/44) to cc32. OMP variation was associated with but not predicted by cc or ST. Overall, fHbp variant 1/subfamily B was present in 80% of isolates and showed little diversity. The majority of nadA were similar to reference allele 1. CONCLUSIONS: A predominant serogroup B lineage has circulated in Brazil for over a decade with significant regional and temporal diversity in ST, fetA, and porB, but not in nadA and fHbp.
Assuntos
Infecções Meningocócicas/epidemiologia , Infecções Meningocócicas/microbiologia , Neisseria meningitidis Sorogrupo B/genética , Técnicas de Tipagem Bacteriana , Sequência de Bases , Biodiversidade , Brasil/epidemiologia , Genes Bacterianos/genética , Variação Genética , Geografia , Humanos , Funções Verossimilhança , Infecções Meningocócicas/genética , Epidemiologia Molecular , Dados de Sequência Molecular , Tipagem de Sequências Multilocus , Neisseria meningitidis Sorogrupo B/classificação , Neisseria meningitidis Sorogrupo B/isolamento & purificação , Filogenia , Fatores de TempoRESUMO
Background: Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B has been predominant in Brazil, but no broadly effective vaccine is available to prevent endemic meningococcal disease. To understand genetic diversity among serogroup B strains in Brazil, we selected a nationally representative sample of clinical disease isolates from 2004, and a temporally representative sample for the state of SaËo Paulo (19882006) for study (n = 372). Methods: We performed multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) and sequence analysis of five outer membrane protein (OMP) genes, including novel vaccine targets fHbp and nadA. Results: In 2004, strain B:4:P1.15,19 clonal complex ST-32/ET-5 (cc32) predominated throughout Brazil; regional variation in MLST sequence type (ST), fetA, and porB was significant but diversity was limited for nadA and fHbp. Between 1988 and 1996, the SaËo Paulo isolates shifted from clonal complex ST-41/44/Lineage 3 (cc41/44) to cc32. OMP variation was associated with but not predicted by cc or ST. Overall, fHbp variant 1/subfamily B was present in 80% of isolates and showed little diversity. The majority of nadA were similar to reference allele 1. Conclusions: A predominant serogroup B lineage has circulated in Brazil for over a decade with significant regional and temporal diversity in ST, fetA, and porB, but not in nadA and fHbp.