Low levels of polymorphisms and no evidence for diversifying selection on the Plasmodium knowlesi Apical Membrane Antigen 1 gene.

ABSTRACT: Infection with Plasmodium knowlesi, a zoonotic primate malaria, is a growing human health problem in Southeast Asia. P. knowlesi is being used in malaria vaccine studies, and a number of proteins are being considered as candidate malaria vaccine antigens, including the Apical Membrane Antigen 1 (AMA1). In order to determine genetic diversity of the ama1 gene and to identify epitopes of AMA1 under strongest immune selection, the ama1 gene of 52 P. knowlesi isolates derived from human infections was sequenced. Sequence analysis of isolates from two geographically isolated regions in Sarawak showed that polymorphism in the protein is low compared to that of AMA1 of the major human malaria parasites, P. falciparum and P. vivax. Although the number of haplotypes was 27, the frequency of mutatio

SUBMITTER: Faber BW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4400157 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature