Journal article
Evolutionary analyses of the major variant surface antigen-encoding genes reveal population structure of Plasmodium falciparum within and between continents
G Tonkin-Hill, S Ruybal-Pesántez, KE Tiedje, V Rougeron, MF Duffy, S Zakeri, T Pumpaibool, P Harnyuttanakorn, OLH Branch, L Ruiz-Mesía, TS Rask, F Prugnolle, AT Papenfuss, YB Chan, KP Day
Plos Genetics | PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE | Published : 2021
Abstract
Malaria remains a major public health problem in many countries. Unlike influenza and HIV, where diversity in immunodominant surface antigens is understood geographically to inform disease surveillance, relatively little is known about the global population structure of PfEMP1, the major variant surface antigen of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. The complexity of the var multigene family that encodes PfEMP1 and that diversifies by recombination, has so far precluded its use in malaria surveillance. Recent studies have demonstrated that cost-effective deep sequencing of the region of var genes encoding the PfEMP1 DBLα domain and subsequent classification of within host sequences a..
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Grants
Awarded by Fogarty International Center
Funding Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, National Institutes of Health [Grant number: R01-AI084156 to K.P.D.] (https://www.niaid.nih.gov), Fogarty International Center at the National Institutes of Health [Program on the Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases (EEID), Grant number: R01-TW009670 to K.P.D.] (https://www.fic.nih.gov), and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, National Institutes of Health [Grant number: R01-AI149779 to K.P.D.] (https://www.niaid.nih.gov).Salary support was provided by R01-AI084156 to G.T-H, K.E.T, V.R, and T.S.R; R01-TW009670 to K.E.T; The University of Melbourne to K.E.T and M.F.D. S.R-P was supported by a Melbourne International Engagement Award from The University of Melbourne. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.