Transmission of molecularly undetectable circulating parasite clones leads to high infection complexity in mosquitoes post feeding.

ABSTRACT: Plasmodium falciparum malaria infections often comprise multiple distinct parasite clones. Few datasets have directly assessed infection complexity in humans and mosquitoes they infect. Examining parasites using molecular tools may provide insights into the selective transmissibility of isolates. Using capillary electrophoresis genotyping and next generation amplicon sequencing, we analysed complexity of parasite infections in human blood and in the midguts of mosquitoes that became infected in membrane feeding experiments using the same blood material in two West African settings. Median numbers of clones in humans and mosquitoes were higher in samples from Burkina Faso (4.5, interquartile range 2-8 for humans; and 2, interquartile range 1-3 for mosquitoes) than in The Gambia (2, interqua

SUBMITTER: Grignard L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6018601 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature