Mosquito Vectors and the Globalization of Plasmodium falciparum Malaria.

Plasmodium falciparum malaria remains a devastating public health problem. Recent discoveries have shed light on the origin and evolution of Plasmodium parasites and their interactions with their vertebrate and mosquito hosts. P. falciparum malaria originated in Africa from a single horizontal transfer between an infected gorilla and a human, and became global as the result of human migration. Today, P. falciparum malaria is transmitted worldwide by more than 70 different anopheline mosquito species. Recent studies indicate that the mosquito immune system can be a barrier to malaria transmission and that the P. falciparum Pfs47 gene allows the parasite to evade mosquito immune detection. Here, we review the origin and globalization of P. falciparum and integrate this history with analysis of the biology, evolution, and dispersal of the main mosquito vectors. This new perspective broadens our understanding of P. falciparum population structure and the dispersal of important parasite genetic traits.

Genome-wide polymorphisms and development of a microarray platform to detect genetic variations in Plasmodium yoelii.

The rodent malaria parasite Plasmodium yoelii is an important model for studying malaria immunity and pathogenesis. One approach for studying malaria disease phenotypes is genetic mapping, which requires typing a large number of genetic markers from multiple parasite strains and/or progeny from genetic crosses. Hundreds of microsatellite (MS) markers have been developed to genotype the P. yoelii genome; however, typing a large number of MS markers can be labor intensive, time consuming, and expensive. Thus, development of high-throughput genotyping tools such as DNA microarrays that enable rapid and accurate large-scale genotyping of the malaria parasite will be highly desirable. In this study, we sequenced the genomes of two P. yoelii strains (33X and N67) and obtained a large number of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Based on the SNPs obtained, we designed sets of oligonucleotide probes to develop a microarray that could interrogate ∼11,000 SNPs across the 14 chromosomes of the parasite in a single hybridization. Results from hybridizations of DNA samples of five P. yoelii strains or cloned lines (17XNL, YM, 33X, N67 and N67C) and two progeny from a genetic cross (N67×17XNL) to the microarray showed that the array had a high call rate (∼97%) and accuracy (99.9%) in calling SNPs, providing a simple and reliable tool for typing the P. yoelii genome. Our data show that the P. yoelii genome is highly polymorphic, although isogenic pairs of parasites were also detected. Additionally, our results indicate that the 33X parasite is a progeny of 17XNL (or YM) and an unknown parasite. The highly accurate and reliable microarray developed in this study will greatly facilitate our ability to study the genetic basis of important traits and the disease it causes.

Hypervariable antigen genes in malaria have ancient roots.

BACKGROUND: The var genes of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum are highly polymorphic loci coding for the erythrocyte membrane proteins 1 (PfEMP1), which are responsible for the cytoaherence of P. falciparum infected red blood cells to the human vasculature. Cytoadhesion, coupled with differential expression of var genes, contributes to virulence and allows the parasite to establish chronic infections by evading detection from the host's immune system. Although studying genetic diversity is a major focus of recent work on the var genes, little is known about the gene family's origin and evolutionary history. RESULTS: Using a novel hidden Markov model-based approach and var sequences assembled from additional isolates and species, we are able to reveal elements of both the early evolution of the var genes as well as recent diversifying events. We compare sequences of the var gene DBLα domains from divergent isolates of P. falciparum (3D7 and HB3), and a closely-related species, Plasmodium reichenowi. We find that the gene family is equally large in P. reichenowi and P. falciparum -- with a minimum of 51 var genes in the P. reichenowi genome (compared to 61 in 3D7 and a minimum of 48 in HB3). In addition, we are able to define large, continuous blocks of homologous sequence among P. falciparum and P. reichenowi var gene DBLα domains. These results reveal that the contemporary structure of the var gene family was present before the divergence of P. falciparum and P. reichenowi, estimated to be between 2.5 to 6 million years ago. We also reveal that recombination has played an important and traceable role in both the establishment, and the maintenance, of diversity in the sequences. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the remarkable diversity and rapid evolution found in these loci within and among P. falciparum populations, the basic structure of these domains and the gene family is surprisingly old and stable. Revealing a common structure as well as conserved sequence among two species also has implications for developing new primate-parasite models for studying the pathology and immunology of falciparum malaria, and for studying the population genetics of var genes and associated virulence phenotypes.

High recombination rates and hotspots in a Plasmodium falciparum genetic cross.

BACKGROUND: The human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum survives pressures from the host immune system and antimalarial drugs by modifying its genome. Genetic recombination and nucleotide substitution are the two major mechanisms that the parasite employs to generate genome diversity. A better understanding of these mechanisms may provide important information for studying parasite evolution, immune evasion and drug resistance. RESULTS: Here, we used a high-density tiling array to estimate the genetic recombination rate among 32 progeny of a P. falciparum genetic cross (7G8 × GB4). We detected 638 recombination events and constructed a high-resolution genetic map. Comparing genetic and physical maps, we obtained an overall recombination rate of 9.6 kb per centimorgan and identified 54 candidate recombination hotspots. Similar to centromeres in other organisms, the sequences of P. falciparum centromeres are found in chromosome regions largely devoid of recombination activity. Motifs enriched in hotspots were also identified, including a 12-bp G/C-rich motif with 3-bp periodicity that may interact with a protein containing 11 predicted zinc finger arrays. CONCLUSIONS: These results show that the P. falciparum genome has a high recombination rate, although it also follows the overall rule of meiosis in eukaryotes with an average of approximately one crossover per chromosome per meiosis. GC-rich repetitive motifs identified in the hotspot sequences may play a role in the high recombination rate observed. The lack of recombination activity in centromeric regions is consistent with the observations of reduced recombination near the centromeres of other organisms.

Low-complexity regions in Plasmodium falciparum: missing links in the evolution of an extreme genome.

Over the past decade, attempts to explain the unusual size and prevalence of low-complexity regions (LCRs) in the proteins of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum have used both neutral and adaptive models. This past research has offered conflicting explanations for LCR characteristics and their role in, and influence on, the evolution of genome structure. Here we show that P. falciparum LCRs (PfLCRs) are not a single phenomenon, but rather consist of at least three distinct types of sequence, and this heterogeneity is the source of the conflict in the literature. Using molecular and population genetics, we show that these families of PfLCRs are evolving by different mechanisms. One of these families, named here the HighGC family, is of particular interest because these LCRs act as recombination hotspots, both in genes under positive selection for high levels of diversity which can be created by recombination (antigens) and those likely to be evolving neutrally or under negative selection (metabolic enzymes). We discuss how the discovery of these distinct species of PfLCRs helps to resolve previous contradictory studies on LCRs in malaria and contributes to our understanding of the evolution of the of the parasite's unusual genome.

On the abundance, amino acid composition, and evolutionary dynamics of low-complexity regions in proteins.

Protein sequences frequently contain regions composed of a reduced number of amino acids. Despite their presence in about half of all proteins and their unusual prevalence in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, the function and evolution of such low-complexity regions (LCRs) remain unclear. Here we show that LCR abundance and amino acid composition depend largely, but not exclusively, on genomic A+T content and obey power-law growth dynamics. Further, our results indicate that LCRs are analogous to microsatellites in that DNA replication slippage and unequal crossover recombination are important molecular mechanisms for LCR expansion. We support this hypothesis by demonstrating that the size of LCR insertions/deletions among orthologous genes depends upon length. Moreover, we show that LCRs enable intra-exonic recombination in a key family of cell-surface antigens in P. falciparum and thus likely facilitate the generation of antigenic diversity. We conclude with a mechanistic model for LCR evolution that links the pattern of LCRs within P. falciparum to its high genomic A+T content and recombination rate.