Next-Generation Sequencing of Plasmodium vivax Patient Samples Shows Evidence of Direct Evolution in Drug-Resistance Genes.

ABSTRACT: Understanding the mechanisms of drug resistance in Plasmodium vivax, the parasite that causes the most widespread form of human malaria, is complicated by the lack of a suitable long-term cell culture system for this parasite. In contrast to P. falciparum, which can be more readily manipulated in the laboratory, insights about parasite biology need to be inferred from human studies. Here we analyze the genomes of parasites within 10 human P. vivax infections from the Peruvian Amazon. Using next-generation sequencing we show that some P. vivax infections analyzed from the region are likely polyclonal. Despite their polyclonality we observe limited parasite genetic diversity by showing that three or fewer haplotypes comprise 94% of the examined genomes, suggesting the recent introduction of

SUBMITTER: Flannery EL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4692371 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature