Variant surface antigens of malaria parasites: functional and evolutionary insights from comparative gene family classification and analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Plasmodium parasites, the causative agents of malaria, express many variant antigens on cell surfaces. Variant surface antigens (VSAs) are typically organized into large subtelomeric gene families that play critical roles in virulence and immune evasion. Many important aspects of VSA function and evolution remain obscure, impeding our understanding of virulence mechanisms and vaccine development. To gain further insights into VSA function and evolution, we comparatively classified and examined known VSA gene families across seven Plasmodium species.

Results

We identified a set of ultra-conserved orthologs within the largest Plasmodium gene family pir, which should be considered as high-priority targets for experimental functional characterization and vaccine devel

SUBMITTER: Frech C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3747859 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature