Balancing selection and high genetic diversity of Plasmodium vivax circumsporozoite central region in parasites from Brazilian Amazon and Rio de Janeiro Atlantic Forest.

ABSTRACT: Circumsporozoite protein (CSP) is the primary pre-erythrocytic vaccine target in Plasmodium species. Knowledge about their genetic diversity can help predict vaccine efficacy and the spread of novel parasite variants. Thus, we investigated pvcsp gene polymorphisms in 219 isolates (136 from Brazilian Amazon [BA], 71 from Rio de Janeiro Atlantic Forest [AF], and 12 from non-Brazilian countries [NB]). Forty-eight polymorphic sites were detected, 46 in the central repeat region (CR), and two in the C-terminal region. Also, the CR presents InDels and a variable number of repeats. All samples correspond to the VK210 variant, and 24 VK210 subtypes based on CR. Nucleotide diversity (π = 0.0135) generated a significant number of haplotypes (168) with low genetic differentiation between the Brazilia

SUBMITTER: Almeida-de-Oliveira NK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7652573 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature