The genome of the zoonotic malaria parasite Plasmodium simium reveals adaptations to host switching

BMC Biology

Cesare Bianco Júnior¹  Ricardo Lourenço de Oliveira¹  Maria de Fátima Ferreira-da-Cruz¹  Cláudio Tadeu Daniel-Ribeiro¹  Patrícia Brasil¹  Anielle de Pina-Costa¹  Filipe Vieira Santos de Abreu¹  Alcides Pissinatti²  Silvia Bahadian Moreira²  Francisco J. Guzmán-Vega³  Stefan T. Arold³  Daniel C. Jeffares⁴  Sarah Forrester⁴  Richard Culleton⁵  Cristiana Ferreira Alves de Brito⁶  Denise Anete Madureira de Alvarenga⁶  Tobias Mourier⁷  Abhinav Kaushik⁷  Olga Douvropoulou⁷  Qingtian Guan⁷  Arnab Pain⁷  Julio Cesar de Souza Junior⁸  Zelinda Maria Braga Hirano⁸ 

[1] Centro de Pesquisa, Diagnóstico e Treinamento em Malária (CPD-Mal), Fiocruz;Centro de Primatologia do Rio de Janeiro (CPRJ/Inea);Computational Bioscience Research Center, Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE) Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST);Department of Biology and York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York;Division of Molecular Parasitology, Proteo-Science Center, Ehime University;Grupo de Pesquisa em Biologia Molecular e Imunologia da Malária, Instituto René Rachou, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz);Pathogen Genomics Laboratory, Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE) Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST);Universidade Regional de Blumenau (FURB), Centro de Pesquisas Biológicas de Indaial (CEPESBI)/ Projeto bugio;

关键词: Plasmodium simium;    Plasmodium vivax;    Malaria;    Zoonosis;    Comparative genomics;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12915-021-01139-5

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Abstract Background Plasmodium simium, a malaria parasite of non-human primates (NHP), was recently shown to cause zoonotic infections in humans in Brazil. We sequenced the P. simium genome to investigate its evolutionary history and to identify any genetic adaptions that may underlie the ability of this parasite to switch between host species. Results Phylogenetic analyses based on whole genome sequences of P. simium from humans and NHPs reveals that P. simium is monophyletic within the broader diversity of South American Plasmodium vivax, suggesting P. simium first infected NHPs as a result of a host switch of P. vivax from humans. The P. simium isolates show the closest relationship to Mexican P. vivax isolates. Analysis of erythrocyte invasion genes reveals differences between P. vivax and P. simium, including large deletions in the Duffy-binding protein 1 (DBP1) and reticulocyte-binding protein 2a genes of P. simium. Analysis of P. simium isolated from NHPs and humans revealed a deletion of 38 amino acids in DBP1 present in all human-derived isolates, whereas NHP isolates were multi-allelic. Conclusions Analysis of the P. simium genome confirmed a close phylogenetic relationship between P. simium and P. vivax, and suggests a very recent American origin for P. simium. The presence of the DBP1 deletion in all human-derived isolates tested suggests that this deletion, in combination with other genetic changes in P. simium, may facilitate the invasion of human red blood cells and may explain, at least in part, the basis of the recent zoonotic infections.

【 授权许可】

Unknown