Plasmodium simium: Population Genomics Reveals the Origin of a Reverse Zoonosis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The population history of Plasmodium simium, which causes malaria in sylvatic Neotropical monkeys and humans along the Atlantic Coast of Brazil, remains disputed. Genetically diverse P vivax populations from various sources, including the lineages that founded the species P simium, are thought to have arrived in the Americas in separate migratory waves.

Methods

We use population genomic approaches to investigate the origin and evolution of P simium.

Results

We find a minimal genome-level differentiation between P simium and present-day New World P vivax isolates, consistent with their common geographic origin and subsequent divergence on this continent. The meagre genetic diversity in P simium samples from humans and monkeys implies a recent transfer from h

SUBMITTER: de Oliveira TC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8643420 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature