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Mehra S, Neafsey DE, White M, Taylor AR. Systematic bias in malaria parasite relatedness estimation. G3 (BETHESDA, MD.) 2025; 15:jkaf018. [PMID: 39883524 PMCID: PMC12060250 DOI: 10.1093/g3journal/jkaf018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2024] [Accepted: 11/22/2024] [Indexed: 01/31/2025]
Abstract
Genetic studies of Plasmodium parasites increasingly feature relatedness estimates. However, various aspects of malaria parasite relatedness estimation are not fully understood. For example, relatedness estimates based on whole-genome-sequence (WGS) data often exceed those based on sparser data types. Systematic bias in relatedness estimation is well documented in the literature geared towards diploid organisms, but largely unknown within the malaria community. We characterize systematic bias in malaria parasite relatedness estimation using three complementary approaches: theoretically, under a non-ancestral statistical model of pairwise relatedness; numerically, under a simulation model of ancestry; and empirically, using data on parasites sampled from Guyana and Colombia. We show that allele frequency estimates encode, locus-by-locus, relatedness averaged over the set of sampled parasites used to compute them. Plugging sample allele frequencies into models of pairwise relatedness can lead to systematic underestimation. However, systematic underestimation can be viewed as population-relatedness calibration, i.e., a way of generating measures of relative relatedness. Systematic underestimation is unavoidable when relatedness is estimated assuming independence between genetic markers. It is mitigated when relatedness is estimated using WGS data under a hidden Markov model (HMM) that exploits linkage between proximal markers. The extent of mitigation is unknowable when a HMM is fit to sparser data, but downstream analyses that use high relatedness thresholds are relatively robust regardless. In summary, practitioners can either resolve to use relative relatedness estimated under independence, or try to estimate absolute relatedness under a HMM. We propose various tools to help practitioners evaluate their situation on a case-by-case basis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Somya Mehra
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
- School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne, Parkville 3010, Australia
| | - Daniel E Neafsey
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
| | - Michael White
- Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Analytics G5 Unit, Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, Paris 75015, France
| | - Aimee R Taylor
- Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Analytics G5 Unit, Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, Paris 75015, France
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2
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Guo B, Rowley E, O'Connor TD, Takala-Harrison S. Potential and pitfalls of using identity-by-descent for malaria genomic surveillance. Trends Parasitol 2025; 41:387-400. [PMID: 40263027 PMCID: PMC12070291 DOI: 10.1016/j.pt.2025.03.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2025] [Revised: 03/24/2025] [Accepted: 03/25/2025] [Indexed: 04/24/2025]
Abstract
The ability to genotype malaria parasites on an epidemiological scale is crucial for genomic surveillance as it aids in understanding malaria transmission dynamics and parasite demography changes in response to antimalarial interventions. Identity-by-descent (IBD)-based methods have demonstrated potential in various aspects of malaria genomic surveillance. However, there is a need for validation of existing approaches and development of new techniques to address challenges posed by the parasites' unique evolutionary dynamics and complex biological characteristics, which differ markedly from organisms like humans. This review examines current IBD use cases, identifies limitations of IBD-based methods, and explores promising future directions to enhance malaria genomic surveillance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bing Guo
- Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Emma Rowley
- Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Timothy D O'Connor
- Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Shannon Takala-Harrison
- Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
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3
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Dwivedi A, Scalsky RJ, Harris DG, Stabler TC, Shrestha B, Joshi S, Gandhi C, Munro JB, Ifeonu OO, Ouedraogo A, Tiono AB, Coulibaly D, Ouattara A, Richie TL, Sim BKL, Plowe CV, Lyke KE, Takala-Harrison S, Hoffman SL, Thera MA, Sirima SB, Laurens MB, Silva JC. Protective targets of PfSPZ vaccines identified from whole-genome sieve analysis of isolates from malaria vaccine efficacy trials in West Africa. MEDRXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR HEALTH SCIENCES 2025:2025.03.04.25323352. [PMID: 40093207 PMCID: PMC11908318 DOI: 10.1101/2025.03.04.25323352] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/19/2025]
Abstract
Identification of antigens targeted by a protective response is a central quest in malaria vaccinology. Whole-genome sieve analysis (SAWG) in samples collected from placebo-controlled field trials of Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) sporozoite (SPZ) vaccines may enable identification of Pf pre-erythrocytic antigens. We applied SAWG to genomic data generated from Pf isolates collected during two field trials measuring the efficacy, in malaria-exposed African adults, of two PfSPZ vaccines. These randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials were conducted in regions of Mali and Burkina Faso characterized by high seasonal transmission, where parasite genetic diversity is high. Genomic sites in which the vaccine allelic state was significantly underrepresented among breakthrough infections in vaccinees relative to placebo recipients were termed "target sites". Protein-coding loci containing target sites that changed amino acids were termed "target loci". The SAWG conducted on clinical trial samples from the Burkina Faso and Mali trials identified 138 and 80 single-copy protein-coding target loci in the Burkinabe and Malian data sets, respectively, with twelve common to both, a number significantly higher than expected (E = 3.9; 99%CI = [0, 9]). Among these was the thrombospondin-related anonymous protein locus, which encodes PfSSP2|TRAP, one of the most abundant and well-characterized pre-erythrocytic stage antigen as well as other genes encoding membrane-associated proteins of unknown function. These results identify SAWG as a potentially powerful tool for identifying protective vaccine antigens in recombining pathogens with large genome size and reveals potential new protective Pf antigens.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ankit Dwivedi
- Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine; Baltimore, MD 21201, USA
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine; Baltimore, MD 21201, USA
| | - Ryan J. Scalsky
- Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine; Baltimore, MD 21201, USA
| | - David G. Harris
- Department of Computer Science, University of Maryland College Park; College Park, MD 20742, USA
| | | | - Biraj Shrestha
- Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine; Baltimore, MD 21201, USA
| | - Sudhaunshu Joshi
- Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine; Baltimore, MD 21201, USA
| | - Chakshu Gandhi
- Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine; Baltimore, MD 21201, USA
| | - James B. Munro
- Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine; Baltimore, MD 21201, USA
| | - Olukemi O. Ifeonu
- Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine; Baltimore, MD 21201, USA
| | | | - Alfred B. Tiono
- Groupe de Recherche Action en Santé; Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
| | - Drissa Coulibaly
- Malaria Research and Training Center, University of Sciences, Techniques and Technologies, Bamako; Bamako, Mali
| | - Amed Ouattara
- Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine; Baltimore, MD 21201, USA
| | | | | | - Christopher V. Plowe
- Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine; Baltimore, MD 21201, USA
| | - Kirsten E. Lyke
- Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine; Baltimore, MD 21201, USA
| | - Shannon Takala-Harrison
- Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine; Baltimore, MD 21201, USA
| | | | - Mahamadou A. Thera
- Malaria Research and Training Center, University of Sciences, Techniques and Technologies, Bamako; Bamako, Mali
| | | | - Matthew B. Laurens
- Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine; Baltimore, MD 21201, USA
| | - Joana C. Silva
- Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine; Baltimore, MD 21201, USA
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine; Baltimore, MD 21201, USA
- Global Health and Tropical Medicine (GHTM), Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical (IHMT), Universidade NOVA de Lisboa (NOVA); 1349-008 Lisboa, Portugal
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4
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Stewart LB, Escolar EL, Philpott J, Cox-Singh J, Singh B, Conway DJ. Intrinsic multiplication rate variation of Plasmodium falciparum in clinical isolates prior to elimination in Malaysia. Int J Parasitol 2025:S0020-7519(25)00038-4. [PMID: 40043895 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpara.2025.02.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2024] [Revised: 12/11/2024] [Accepted: 02/27/2025] [Indexed: 03/21/2025]
Abstract
Replication rates and virulence of pathogens are hypothesised to evolve in response to varying intensity of transmission and competition among genotypes. Under exponential growth conditions in culture, clinical isolates of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum have variable intrinsic multiplication rates, but comparisons of samples from different areas are needed. To analyse parasites from an area of low endemicity, Malaysian clinical isolates cryopreserved prior to malaria elimination were studied. The mean and range of P. falciparum multiplication rates in Malaysian isolates were no less than that seen among isolates from more highly endemic populations in Africa, which does not support a hypothesis of adaptation to prevailing levels of infection endemicity. Moreover, the distribution of multiplication rates was similar between isolates with single parasite genotypes and those containing multiple genotypes, which does not support a hypothesis of facultative adjustment to competing parasites. Based solely on clinical isolates, the findings indicate that parasites may not evolve lower multiplication rates under conditions of reduced transmission, and that the virulence potential is likely to be undiminished in pre-elimination settings. This encourages efforts to eliminate endemic infection completely, as has been achieved at the national level in Malaysia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lindsay B Stewart
- Department of Infection Biology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel St, London WC1E 7HT, UK
| | - Elena Lantero Escolar
- Department of Infection Biology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel St, London WC1E 7HT, UK
| | - James Philpott
- Department of Infection Biology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel St, London WC1E 7HT, UK
| | - Janet Cox-Singh
- Malaria Research Centre, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia
| | - Balbir Singh
- Malaria Research Centre, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia
| | - David J Conway
- Department of Infection Biology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel St, London WC1E 7HT, UK.
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5
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Westaway JAF, Diez Benavente E, Auburn S, Kucharski M, Aranciaga N, Nayak S, William T, Rajahram GS, Piera KA, Braima K, Tan AF, Alaza DA, Barber BE, Drakeley C, Amato R, Sutanto E, Trimarsanto H, Jelip J, Anstey NM, Bozdech Z, Field M, Grigg MJ. Genomic epidemiology of Plasmodium knowlesi reveals putative genetic drivers of adaptation in Malaysia. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2025; 19:e0012885. [PMID: 40072967 PMCID: PMC11932472 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0012885] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2024] [Revised: 03/24/2025] [Accepted: 02/03/2025] [Indexed: 03/14/2025] Open
Abstract
Sabah, Malaysia, has amongst the highest burden of human Plasmodium knowlesi infection in the world, associated with increasing encroachment on the parasite's macaque host habitat. However, the genomic make-up of P. knowlesi in Sabah was previously poorly understood. To inform on local patterns of transmission and putative adaptive drivers, we conduct population-level genetic analyses of P. knowlesi human infections using 52 new whole genomes from Sabah, Malaysia, in combination with publicly available data. We identify the emergence of distinct geographical subpopulations within the macaque-associated clusters using identity-by-descent-based connectivity analysis. Secondly, we report on introgression events between the clusters, which may be linked to differentiation of the subpopulations, and that overlap genes critical for survival in human and mosquito hosts. Using village-level locations from P. knowlesi infections, we also identify associations between several introgressed regions and both intact forest perimeter-area ratio and mosquito vector habitat suitability. Our findings provide further evidence of the complex role of changing ecosystems and sympatric macaque hosts in Malaysia driving distinct genetic changes seen in P. knowlesi populations. Future expanded analyses of evolving P. knowlesi genetics and environmental drivers of transmission will be important to guide public health surveillance and control strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob A. F. Westaway
- Global and Tropical Health, Menzies School of Health Research and Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
- Centre for Tropical Bioinformatics and Molecular Biology, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland, Australia
| | - Ernest Diez Benavente
- Laboratory of Experimental Cardiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Sarah Auburn
- Global and Tropical Health, Menzies School of Health Research and Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
| | | | | | - Sourav Nayak
- Nanyang Technological University, SingaporeSingapore
| | - Timothy William
- Infectious Disease Society Kota Kinabalu, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
| | - Giri S. Rajahram
- Infectious Disease Society Kota Kinabalu, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
- Queen Elizabeth II Hospital-Clinical Research Centre, Ministry of Health, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
| | - Kim A. Piera
- Global and Tropical Health, Menzies School of Health Research and Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
| | - Kamil Braima
- Global and Tropical Health, Menzies School of Health Research and Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
| | - Angelica F. Tan
- Global and Tropical Health, Menzies School of Health Research and Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
| | - Danshy A. Alaza
- Infectious Disease Society Kota Kinabalu, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
| | - Bridget E. Barber
- Global and Tropical Health, Menzies School of Health Research and Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
| | - Chris Drakeley
- London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
| | | | | | - Hidayat Trimarsanto
- Global and Tropical Health, Menzies School of Health Research and Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
- Eijkman Research Center for Molecular Biology, National Research and Innovation Agency, Jakarta, Indonesia
| | - Jenarun Jelip
- Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
| | - Nicholas M. Anstey
- Global and Tropical Health, Menzies School of Health Research and Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
| | | | - Matthew Field
- Global and Tropical Health, Menzies School of Health Research and Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
- Centre for Tropical Bioinformatics and Molecular Biology, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland, Australia
- College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Science, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia
- Immunogenomics Lab, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Darlinghurst, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Matthew J. Grigg
- Global and Tropical Health, Menzies School of Health Research and Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
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6
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Taylor AR, Neubauer Vickers E, Greenhouse B. Review of MrsFreqPhase methods: methods designed to estimate statistically malaria parasite multiplicity of infection, relatedness, frequency and phase. Malar J 2024; 23:308. [PMID: 39407242 PMCID: PMC11481338 DOI: 10.1186/s12936-024-05119-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2024] [Accepted: 09/28/2024] [Indexed: 10/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Malaria parasites are haploid within humans, but infections often contain genetically distinct groups of clonal parasites. When the per-infection number of genetically distinct clones (i.e., the multiplicity of infection, MOI) exceeds one, and per-infection genetic data are generated in bulk, important information are obfuscated. For example, the MOI, the phases of the haploid genotypes of genetically distinct clones (i.e., how the alleles concatenate into sequences), and their frequencies. This complicates many downstream analyses, including relatedness estimation. MOIs, parasite sequences, their frequencies, and degrees of relatedness are used ubiquitously in malaria studies: for example, to monitor anti-malarial drug resistance and to track changes in transmission. In this article, MrsFreqPhase methods designed to estimate statistically malaria parasite MOI, relatedness, frequency and phase are reviewed. An overview, a historical account of the literature, and a statistical description of contemporary software is provided for each method class. The article ends with a look towards future method development, needed to make best use of new data types generated by cutting-edge malaria studies reliant on MrsFreqPhase methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aimee R Taylor
- Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, Paris, France, Paris, France.
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7
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Murphy M, Greenhouse B. MOIRE: a software package for the estimation of allele frequencies and effective multiplicity of infection from polyallelic data. Bioinformatics 2024; 40:btae619. [PMID: 39423091 PMCID: PMC11524891 DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btae619] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2024] [Revised: 10/08/2024] [Accepted: 10/17/2024] [Indexed: 10/21/2024] Open
Abstract
MOTIVATION Malaria parasite genetic data can provide insight into parasite phenotypes, evolution, and transmission. However, estimating key parameters such as allele frequencies, multiplicity of infection (MOI), and within-host relatedness from genetic data is challenging, particularly in the presence of multiple related coinfecting strains. Existing methods often rely on single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data and do not account for within-host relatedness. RESULTS We present Multiplicity Of Infection and allele frequency REcovery (MOIRE), a Bayesian approach to estimate allele frequencies, MOI, and within-host relatedness from genetic data subject to experimental error. MOIRE accommodates both polyallelic and SNP data, making it applicable to diverse genotyping panels. We also introduce a novel metric, the effective MOI (eMOI), which integrates MOI and within-host relatedness, providing a robust and interpretable measure of genetic diversity. Extensive simulations and real-world data from a malaria study in Namibia demonstrate the superior performance of MOIRE over naive estimation methods, accurately estimating MOI up to seven with moderate-sized panels of diverse loci (e.g. microhaplotypes). MOIRE also revealed substantial heterogeneity in population mean MOI and mean relatedness across health districts in Namibia, suggesting detectable differences in transmission dynamics. Notably, eMOI emerges as a portable metric of within-host diversity, facilitating meaningful comparisons across settings when allele frequencies or genotyping panels differ. Compared to existing software, MOIRE enables more comprehensive insights into within-host diversity and population structure. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION MOIRE is available as an R package at https://eppicenter.github.io/moire/.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maxwell Murphy
- Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94704, United States
- EPPIcenter Program, Division of HIV, ID and Global Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94110, United States
| | - Bryan Greenhouse
- EPPIcenter Program, Division of HIV, ID and Global Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94110, United States
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8
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Murphy M, Greenhouse B. MOIRE: A software package for the estimation of allele frequencies and effective multiplicity of infection from polyallelic data. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2023.10.03.560769. [PMID: 37873322 PMCID: PMC10592951 DOI: 10.1101/2023.10.03.560769] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2023]
Abstract
Malaria parasite genetic data can provide insight into parasite phenotypes, evolution, and transmission. However, estimating key parameters such as allele frequencies, multiplicity of infection (MOI), and within-host relatedness from genetic data has been challenging, particularly in the presence of multiple related coinfecting strains. Existing methods often rely on single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data and do not account for within-host relatedness. In this study, we introduce a Bayesian approach called MOIRE (Multiplicity Of Infection and allele frequency REcovery), designed to estimate allele frequencies, MOI, and within-host relatedness from genetic data subject to experimental error. Importantly, MOIRE is flexible in accommodating both polyallelic and SNP data, making it adaptable to diverse genotyping panels. We also introduce a novel metric, the effective MOI (eMOI), which integrates MOI and within-host relatedness, providing a robust and interpretable measure of genetic diversity. Using extensive simulations and real-world data from a malaria study in Namibia, we demonstrate the superior performance of MOIRE over naive estimation methods, accurately estimating MOI up to 7 with moderate sized panels of diverse loci (e.g. microhaplotypes). MOIRE also revealed substantial heterogeneity in population mean MOI and mean relatedness across health districts in Namibia, suggesting detectable differences in transmission dynamics. Notably, eMOI emerges as a portable metric of within-host diversity, facilitating meaningful comparisons across settings, even when allele frequencies or genotyping panels are different. MOIRE represents an important addition to the analysis toolkit for malaria population dynamics. Compared to existing software, MOIRE enhances the accuracy of parameter estimation and enables more comprehensive insights into within-host diversity and population structure. Additionally, MOIRE's adaptability to diverse data sources and potential for future improvements make it a valuable asset for research on malaria and other organisms, such as other eukaryotic pathogens. MOIRE is available as an R package at https://eppicenter.github.io/moire/.
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9
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Kwiatkowski D. Modelling transmission dynamics and genomic diversity in a recombining parasite population. Wellcome Open Res 2024; 9:215. [PMID: 39554245 PMCID: PMC11569386 DOI: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.19092.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/26/2024] [Indexed: 11/19/2024] Open
Abstract
The genomic diversity of a parasite population is shaped by its transmission dynamics but superinfection, cotranmission and recombination make this relationship complex and hard to analyse. This paper aims to simplify the problem by introducing the concept of a genomic transmission graph with three basic parameters: the effective number of hosts, the quantum of transmission and the crossing rate of transmission chains. This enables rapid simulation of coalescence times in a recombining parasite population with superinfection and cotransmission, and it also provides a mathematical framework for analysis of within-host variation. Taking malaria as an example, we use this theoretical model to examine how transmission dynamics and migration affect parasite genomic diversity, including the effective recombination rate and haplotypic metrics of recent common ancestry. We show how key transmission parameters can be inferred from deep sequencing data and as a proof of concept we estimate the Plasmodium falciparum transmission bottleneck. Finally we discuss the potential applications of this novel inferential framework in genomic surveillance for malaria control and elimination. Online tools for exploring the genomic transmission graph are available at d-kwiat.github.io/gtg.
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10
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Khan A, Alves-Ferreira EVC, Vogel H, Botchie S, Ayi I, Pawlowic MC, Robinson G, Chalmers RM, Lorenzi H, Grigg ME. Phylogenomic reconstruction of Cryptosporidium spp. captured directly from clinical samples reveals extensive genetic diversity. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.04.17.589752. [PMID: 38659886 PMCID: PMC11042339 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.17.589752] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/26/2024]
Abstract
Cryptosporidium is a leading cause of severe diarrhea and mortality in young children and infants in Africa and southern Asia. More than twenty Cryptosporidium species infect humans, of which C. parvum and C. hominis are the major agents causing moderate to severe diarrhea. Relatively few genetic markers are typically applied to genotype and/or diagnose Cryptosporidium. Most infections produce limited oocysts making it difficult to perform whole genome sequencing (WGS) directly from stool samples. Hence, there is an immediate need to apply WGS strategies to 1) develop high-resolution genetic markers to genotype these parasites more precisely, 2) to investigate endemic regions and detect the prevalence of different genotypes, and the role of mixed infections in generating genetic diversity, and 3) to investigate zoonotic transmission and evolution. To understand Cryptosporidium global population genetic structure, we applied Capture Enrichment Sequencing (CES-Seq) using 74,973 RNA-based 120 nucleotide baits that cover ~92% of the genome of C. parvum. CES-Seq is sensitive and successfully sequenced Cryptosporidium genomic DNA diluted up to 0.005% in human stool DNA. It also resolved mixed strain infections and captured new species of Cryptosporidium directly from clinical/field samples to promote genome-wide phylogenomic analyses and prospective GWAS studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Khan
- Molecular Parasitology Section, Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases, National institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - E V C Alves-Ferreira
- Molecular Parasitology Section, Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases, National institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - H Vogel
- Molecular Parasitology Section, Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases, National institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
- Comparative Biomedical Scientist Training Program, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
| | - S Botchie
- Department of Parasitology, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana
| | - I Ayi
- Department of Parasitology, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana
| | - M C Pawlowic
- Wellcome Centre for Anti-Infectives Research, Division of Biological Chemistry and Drug Discovery, University of Dundee, Dundee, DD1 5EH, Scotland, UK
| | - G Robinson
- Cryptosporidium Reference Unit, Public Health Wales, Microbiology and Health Protection, Singleton Hospital, Swansea, SA2 8QA, UK
- Swansea University Medical School, Singleton Park, Swansea, SA2 8PP, UK
| | - R M Chalmers
- Cryptosporidium Reference Unit, Public Health Wales, Microbiology and Health Protection, Singleton Hospital, Swansea, SA2 8QA, UK
- Swansea University Medical School, Singleton Park, Swansea, SA2 8PP, UK
| | - H Lorenzi
- Bioinformatics and Computational Biosciences Branch, Office of Cyber Infrastructure and Computational Biology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - M E Grigg
- Molecular Parasitology Section, Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases, National institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
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11
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Fola AA, He Q, Xie S, Thimmapuram J, Bhide KP, Dorman J, Ciubotariu II, Mwenda MC, Mambwe B, Mulube C, Hawela M, Norris DE, Moss WJ, Bridges DJ, Carpi G. Genomics reveals heterogeneous Plasmodium falciparum transmission and selection signals in Zambia. COMMUNICATIONS MEDICINE 2024; 4:67. [PMID: 38582941 PMCID: PMC10998850 DOI: 10.1038/s43856-024-00498-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2023] [Accepted: 03/28/2024] [Indexed: 04/08/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Genomic surveillance is crucial for monitoring malaria transmission and understanding parasite adaptation to interventions. Zambia lacks prior nationwide efforts in malaria genomic surveillance among African countries. METHODS We conducted genomic surveillance of Plasmodium falciparum parasites from the 2018 Malaria Indicator Survey in Zambia, a nationally representative household survey of children under five years of age. We whole-genome sequenced and analyzed 241 P. falciparum genomes from regions with varying levels of malaria transmission across Zambia and estimated genetic metrics that are informative about transmission intensity, genetic relatedness between parasites, and selection. RESULTS We provide genomic evidence of widespread within-host polygenomic infections, regardless of epidemiological characteristics, underscoring the extensive and ongoing endemic malaria transmission in Zambia. Our analysis reveals country-level clustering of parasites from Zambia and neighboring regions, with distinct separation in West Africa. Within Zambia, identity by descent (IBD) relatedness analysis uncovers local spatial clustering and rare cases of long-distance sharing of closely related parasite pairs. Genomic regions with large shared IBD segments and strong positive selection signatures implicate genes involved in sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine and artemisinin combination therapies drug resistance, but no signature related to chloroquine resistance. Furthermore, differences in selection signatures, including drug resistance loci, are observed between eastern and western Zambian parasite populations, suggesting variable transmission intensity and ongoing drug pressure. CONCLUSIONS Our findings enhance our understanding of nationwide P. falciparum transmission in Zambia, establishing a baseline for analyzing parasite genetic metrics as they vary over time and space. These insights highlight the urgency of strengthening malaria control programs and surveillance of antimalarial drug resistance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abebe A Fola
- Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
| | - Qixin He
- Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
| | - Shaojun Xie
- Bioinformatics Core, Purdue University, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
| | - Jyothi Thimmapuram
- Bioinformatics Core, Purdue University, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
| | - Ketaki P Bhide
- Bioinformatics Core, Purdue University, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
| | - Jack Dorman
- Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
| | - Ilinca I Ciubotariu
- Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
| | - Mulenga C Mwenda
- PATH-MACEPA, National Malaria Elimination Centre, Lusaka, Zambia
| | - Brenda Mambwe
- PATH-MACEPA, National Malaria Elimination Centre, Lusaka, Zambia
| | - Conceptor Mulube
- PATH-MACEPA, National Malaria Elimination Centre, Lusaka, Zambia
| | - Moonga Hawela
- PATH-MACEPA, National Malaria Elimination Centre, Lusaka, Zambia
| | - Douglas E Norris
- The Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - William J Moss
- The Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | | | - Giovanna Carpi
- Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.
- The Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
- Purdue Institute for Inflammation, Immunology, & Infectious Disease, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.
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12
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Guo B, Borda V, Laboulaye R, Spring MD, Wojnarski M, Vesely BA, Silva JC, Waters NC, O'Connor TD, Takala-Harrison S. Strong positive selection biases identity-by-descent-based inferences of recent demography and population structure in Plasmodium falciparum. Nat Commun 2024; 15:2499. [PMID: 38509066 PMCID: PMC10954658 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-46659-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2023] [Accepted: 02/28/2024] [Indexed: 03/22/2024] Open
Abstract
Malaria genomic surveillance often estimates parasite genetic relatedness using metrics such as Identity-By-Decent (IBD), yet strong positive selection stemming from antimalarial drug resistance or other interventions may bias IBD-based estimates. In this study, we use simulations, a true IBD inference algorithm, and empirical data sets from different malaria transmission settings to investigate the extent of this bias and explore potential correction strategies. We analyze whole genome sequence data generated from 640 new and 3089 publicly available Plasmodium falciparum clinical isolates. We demonstrate that positive selection distorts IBD distributions, leading to underestimated effective population size and blurred population structure. Additionally, we discover that the removal of IBD peak regions partially restores the accuracy of IBD-based inferences, with this effect contingent on the population's background genetic relatedness and extent of inbreeding. Consequently, we advocate for selection correction for parasite populations undergoing strong, recent positive selection, particularly in high malaria transmission settings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bing Guo
- Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Victor Borda
- Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Roland Laboulaye
- Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Michele D Spring
- Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Mariusz Wojnarski
- Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Brian A Vesely
- Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Joana C Silva
- Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Global Health and Tropical Medicine (GHTM), Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical (IHMT), Universidade NOVA de Lisboa (NOVA), Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Norman C Waters
- Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Timothy D O'Connor
- Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
| | - Shannon Takala-Harrison
- Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
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13
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Letcher B, Maciuca S, Iqbal Z. Role for gene conversion in the evolution of cell-surface antigens of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. PLoS Biol 2024; 22:e3002507. [PMID: 38451924 PMCID: PMC10919680 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002507] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2023] [Accepted: 01/19/2024] [Indexed: 03/09/2024] Open
Abstract
While the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum has low average genome-wide diversity levels, likely due to its recent introduction from a gorilla-infecting ancestor (approximately 10,000 to 50,000 years ago), some genes display extremely high diversity levels. In particular, certain proteins expressed on the surface of human red blood cell-infecting merozoites (merozoite surface proteins (MSPs)) possess exactly 2 deeply diverged lineages that have seemingly not recombined. While of considerable interest, the evolutionary origin of this phenomenon remains unknown. In this study, we analysed the genetic diversity of 2 of the most variable MSPs, DBLMSP and DBLMSP2, which are paralogs (descended from an ancestral duplication). Despite thousands of available Illumina WGS datasets from malaria-endemic countries, diversity in these genes has been hard to characterise as reads containing highly diverged alleles completely fail to align to the reference genome. To solve this, we developed a pipeline leveraging genome graphs, enabling us to genotype them at high accuracy and completeness. Using our newly- resolved sequences, we found that both genes exhibit 2 deeply diverged lineages in a specific protein domain (DBL) and that one of the 2 lineages is shared across the genes. We identified clear evidence of nonallelic gene conversion between the 2 genes as the likely mechanism behind sharing, leading us to propose that gene conversion between diverged paralogs, and not recombination suppression, can generate this surprising genealogy; a model that is furthermore consistent with high diversity levels in these 2 genes despite the strong historical P. falciparum transmission bottleneck.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brice Letcher
- EMBL-EBI, Hinxton, United Kingdom
- Laboratory of Biology and Modelling of the Cell, CNRS UMR 5239, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Lyon, France
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14
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Fola AA, He Q, Xie S, Thimmapuram J, Bhide KP, Dorman J, Ciubotariu II, Mwenda MC, Mambwe B, Mulube C, Hawela M, Norris DE, Moss WJ, Bridges DJ, Carpi G. Genomics reveals heterogeneous Plasmodium falciparum transmission and population differentiation in Zambia and bordering countries. MEDRXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR HEALTH SCIENCES 2024:2024.02.09.24302570. [PMID: 38370674 PMCID: PMC10871455 DOI: 10.1101/2024.02.09.24302570] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/20/2024]
Abstract
Genomic surveillance plays a critical role in monitoring malaria transmission and understanding how the parasite adapts in response to interventions. We conducted genomic surveillance of malaria by sequencing 241 Plasmodium falciparum genomes from regions with varying levels of malaria transmission across Zambia. We found genomic evidence of high levels of within-host polygenomic infections, regardless of epidemiological characteristics, underscoring the extensive and ongoing endemic malaria transmission in the country. We identified country-level clustering of parasites from Zambia and neighboring countries, and distinct clustering of parasites from West Africa. Within Zambia, our identity by descent (IBD) relatedness analysis uncovered spatial clustering of closely related parasite pairs at the local level and rare cases of long-distance sharing. Genomic regions with large shared IBD segments and strong positive selection signatures identified genes involved in sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine and artemisinin combination therapies drug resistance, but no signature related to chloroquine resistance. Together, our findings enhance our understanding of P. falciparum transmission nationwide in Zambia and highlight the urgency of strengthening malaria control programs and surveillance of antimalarial drug resistance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abebe A. Fola
- Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
| | - Qixin He
- Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
| | - Shaojun Xie
- Bioinformatics Core, Purdue University, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
| | - Jyothi Thimmapuram
- Bioinformatics Core, Purdue University, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
| | - Ketaki P. Bhide
- Bioinformatics Core, Purdue University, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
| | - Jack Dorman
- Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
| | | | | | - Brenda Mambwe
- PATH-MACEPA, National Malaria Elimination Centre, Lusaka, Zambia
| | - Conceptor Mulube
- PATH-MACEPA, National Malaria Elimination Centre, Lusaka, Zambia
| | - Moonga Hawela
- PATH-MACEPA, National Malaria Elimination Centre, Lusaka, Zambia
| | - Douglas E. Norris
- The Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - William J. Moss
- The Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | | | - Giovanna Carpi
- Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
- The Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Purdue Institute for Inflammation, Immunology, & Infectious Disease, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
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15
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Kebede AM, Sutanto E, Trimarsanto H, Benavente ED, Barnes M, Pearson RD, Siegel SV, Erko B, Assefa A, Getachew S, Aseffa A, Petros B, Lo E, Mohammed R, Yilma D, Rumaseb A, Nosten F, Noviyanti R, Rayner JC, Kwiatkowski DP, Price RN, Golassa L, Auburn S. Genomic analysis of Plasmodium vivax describes patterns of connectivity and putative drivers of adaptation in Ethiopia. Sci Rep 2023; 13:20788. [PMID: 38012191 PMCID: PMC10682486 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-47889-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2023] [Accepted: 11/20/2023] [Indexed: 11/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Ethiopia has the greatest burden of Plasmodium vivax in Africa, but little is known about the epidemiological landscape of parasites across the country. We analysed the genomic diversity of 137 P. vivax isolates collected nine Ethiopian districts from 2012 to 2016. Signatures of selection were detected by cross-country comparisons with isolates from Thailand (n = 104) and Indonesia (n = 111), representing regions with low and high chloroquine resistance respectively. 26% (35/137) of Ethiopian infections were polyclonal, and 48.5% (17/35) of these comprised highly related clones (within-host identity-by-descent > 25%), indicating frequent co-transmission and superinfection. Parasite gene flow between districts could not be explained entirely by geographic distance, with economic and cultural factors hypothesised to have an impact on connectivity. Amplification of the duffy binding protein gene (pvdbp1) was prevalent across all districts (16-75%). Cross-population haplotype homozygosity revealed positive selection in a region proximal to the putative chloroquine resistance transporter gene (pvcrt-o). An S25P variant in amino acid transporter 1 (pvaat1), whose homologue has recently been implicated in P. falciparum chloroquine resistance evolution, was prevalent in Ethiopia (96%) but not Thailand or Indonesia (35-53%). The genomic architecture in Ethiopia highlights circulating variants of potential public health concern in an endemic setting with evidence of stable transmission.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Hidayat Trimarsanto
- Menzies School of Health Research and Charles Darwin University, Casuarina, PO Box 41096, Darwin, NT, 0811, Australia
- Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology, Jakarta, Indonesia
| | - Ernest Diez Benavente
- Laboratory of Experimental Cardiology, Department of Cardiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Mariana Barnes
- Menzies School of Health Research and Charles Darwin University, Casuarina, PO Box 41096, Darwin, NT, 0811, Australia
| | | | | | - Berhanu Erko
- Aklilu Lemma Institute of Pathobiology, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Ashenafi Assefa
- Ethiopian Public Health Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- School of Public Health, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Sisay Getachew
- Armauer Hansen Research Unit (AHRI), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- Millipore Sigma (Bioreliance), Rockville, USA
| | - Abraham Aseffa
- Armauer Hansen Research Unit (AHRI), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | | | - Eugenia Lo
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine, Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA
| | | | - Daniel Yilma
- Jimma University Clinical Trial Unit, Department of Internal Medicine, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia
| | - Angela Rumaseb
- Menzies School of Health Research and Charles Darwin University, Casuarina, PO Box 41096, Darwin, NT, 0811, Australia
| | - Francois Nosten
- Shoklo Malaria Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Mae Sot, Thailand
- Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | | | - Julian C Rayner
- Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | | | - Ric N Price
- Menzies School of Health Research and Charles Darwin University, Casuarina, PO Box 41096, Darwin, NT, 0811, Australia
- Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Lemu Golassa
- Aklilu Lemma Institute of Pathobiology, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Sarah Auburn
- Menzies School of Health Research and Charles Darwin University, Casuarina, PO Box 41096, Darwin, NT, 0811, Australia.
- Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
- Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand.
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16
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Sutanto E, Pava Z, Echeverry DF, Lopera-Mesa TM, Montenegro LM, Yasnot-Acosta MF, Benavente ED, Pearson RD, Herrera S, Arévalo-Herrera M, Trimarsanto H, Rumaseb A, Noviyanti R, Kwiatkowski DP, Price RN, Auburn S. Genomics of Plasmodium vivax in Colombia reveals evidence of local bottle-necking and inter-country connectivity in the Americas. Sci Rep 2023; 13:19779. [PMID: 37957271 PMCID: PMC10643449 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-46076-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2023] [Accepted: 10/27/2023] [Indexed: 11/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Colombia aims to eliminate malaria by 2030 but remains one of the highest burden countries in the Americas. Plasmodium vivax contributes half of all malaria cases, with its control challenged by relapsing parasitaemia, drug resistance and cross-border spread. Using 64 Colombian P. vivax genomes collected between 2013 and 2017, we explored diversity and selection in two major foci of transmission: Chocó and Córdoba. Open-access data from other countries were used for comparative assessment of drug resistance candidates and to assess cross-border spread. Across Colombia, polyclonal infections were infrequent (12%), and infection connectivity was relatively high (median IBD = 5%), consistent with low endemicity. Chocó exhibited a higher frequency of polyclonal infections (23%) than Córdoba (7%), although the difference was not significant (P = 0.300). Most Colombian infections carried double pvdhfr (95%) and single pvdhps (71%) mutants, but other drug resistance mutations were less prevalent (< 10%). There was no evidence of selection at the pvaat1 gene, whose P. falciparum orthologue has recently been implicated in chloroquine resistance. Global population comparisons identified other putative adaptations. Within the Americas, low-level connectivity was observed between Colombia and Peru, highlighting potential for cross-border spread. Our findings demonstrate the potential of molecular data to inform on infection spread and adaptation.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Zuleima Pava
- Menzies School of Health Research and Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia
| | - Diego F Echeverry
- Departamento de Microbiología, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia
- International Training and Medical Research Center (CIDEIM), Cali, Colombia
| | | | | | - Maria F Yasnot-Acosta
- Grupo de Investigaciones Microbiológicas y Biomédicas de Córdoba (GIMBIC), Universidad de Córdoba, Monteria, Colombia
| | - Ernest Diez Benavente
- Laboratory of Experimental Cardiology, Department of Cardiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | | | | | - Myriam Arévalo-Herrera
- Caucaseco Scientific Research Center, Cali, Colombia
- Centro Internacional de Vacunas, Cali, Colombia
| | - Hidayat Trimarsanto
- Menzies School of Health Research and Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia
- Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology, Jakarta, Indonesia
| | - Angela Rumaseb
- Menzies School of Health Research and Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia
| | | | | | - Ric N Price
- Menzies School of Health Research and Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia
- Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
- Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Sarah Auburn
- Menzies School of Health Research and Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia.
- Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand.
- Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
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17
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Guo B, Borda V, Laboulaye R, Spring MD, Wojnarski M, Vesely BA, Silva JC, Waters NC, O'Connor TD, Takala-Harrison S. Strong Positive Selection Biases Identity-By-Descent-Based Inferences of Recent Demography and Population Structure in Plasmodium falciparum. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.07.14.549114. [PMID: 37502843 PMCID: PMC10370022 DOI: 10.1101/2023.07.14.549114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/29/2023]
Abstract
Malaria genomic surveillance often estimates parasite genetic relatedness using metrics such as Identity-By-Decent (IBD). Yet, strong positive selection stemming from antimalarial drug resistance or other interventions may bias IBD-based estimates. In this study, we utilized simulations, a true IBD inference algorithm, and empirical datasets from different malaria transmission settings to investigate the extent of such bias and explore potential correction strategies. We analyzed whole genome sequence data generated from 640 new and 4,026 publicly available Plasmodium falciparum clinical isolates. Our findings demonstrated that positive selection distorts IBD distributions, leading to underestimated effective population size and blurred population structure. Additionally, we discovered that the removal of IBD peak regions partially restored the accuracy of IBD-based inferences, with this effect contingent on the population's background genetic relatedness. Consequently, we advocate for selection correction for parasite populations undergoing strong, recent positive selection, particularly in high malaria transmission settings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bing Guo
- Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD USA
| | - Victor Borda
- Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Roland Laboulaye
- Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Michele D Spring
- Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Mariusz Wojnarski
- Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Brian A Vesely
- Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Joana C Silva
- Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Norman C Waters
- Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Timothy D O'Connor
- Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Shannon Takala-Harrison
- Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD USA
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18
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Argyropoulos DC, Tan MH, Adobor C, Mensah B, Labbé F, Tiedje KE, Koram KA, Ghansah A, Day KP. Performance of SNP barcodes to determine genetic diversity and population structure of Plasmodium falciparum in Africa. Front Genet 2023; 14:1071896. [PMID: 37323661 PMCID: PMC10267394 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2023.1071896] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2022] [Accepted: 05/17/2023] [Indexed: 06/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Panels of informative biallelic single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been proposed to be an economical method to fast-track the population genetic analysis of Plasmodium falciparum in malaria-endemic areas. Whilst used successfully in low-transmission areas where infections are monoclonal and highly related, we present the first study to evaluate the performance of these 24- and 96-SNP molecular barcodes in African countries, characterised by moderate-to-high transmission, where multiclonal infections are prevalent. For SNP barcodes it is generally recommended that the SNPs chosen i) are biallelic, ii) have a minor allele frequency greater than 0.10, and iii) are independently segregating, to minimise bias in the analysis of genetic diversity and population structure. Further, to be standardised and used in many population genetic studies, these barcodes should maintain characteristics i) to iii) across various iv) geographies and v) time points. Using haplotypes generated from the MalariaGEN P. falciparum Community Project version six database, we investigated the ability of these two barcodes to fulfil these criteria in moderate-to-high transmission African populations in 25 sites across 10 countries. Predominantly clinical infections were analysed, with 52.3% found to be multiclonal, generating high proportions of mixed-allele calls (MACs) per isolate thereby impeding haplotype construction. Of the 24- and 96-SNPs, loci were removed if they were not biallelic and had low minor allele frequencies in all study populations, resulting in 20- and 75-SNP barcodes respectively for downstream population genetics analysis. Both SNP barcodes had low expected heterozygosity estimates in these African settings and consequently biased analyses of similarity. Both minor and major allele frequencies were temporally unstable. These SNP barcodes were also shown to identify weak genetic differentiation across large geographic distances based on Mantel Test and DAPC. These results demonstrate that these SNP barcodes are vulnerable to ascertainment bias and as such cannot be used as a standardised approach for malaria surveillance in moderate-to-high transmission areas in Africa, where the greatest genomic diversity of P. falciparum exists at local, regional and country levels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dionne C. Argyropoulos
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Bio21 Institute and Peter Doherty Institute, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Mun Hua Tan
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Bio21 Institute and Peter Doherty Institute, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Courage Adobor
- Department of Parasitology, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana
| | - Benedicta Mensah
- Department of Parasitology, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana
| | - Frédéric Labbé
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Kathryn E. Tiedje
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Bio21 Institute and Peter Doherty Institute, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Kwadwo A. Koram
- Epidemiology Department, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana
| | - Anita Ghansah
- Department of Parasitology, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana
| | - Karen P. Day
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Bio21 Institute and Peter Doherty Institute, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
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19
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Paschalidis A, Watson OJ, Aydemir O, Verity R, Bailey JA. coiaf: Directly estimating complexity of infection with allele frequencies. PLoS Comput Biol 2023; 19:e1010247. [PMID: 37294835 PMCID: PMC10310041 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010247] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2022] [Revised: 06/29/2023] [Accepted: 05/01/2023] [Indexed: 06/11/2023] Open
Abstract
In malaria, individuals are often infected with different parasite strains. The complexity of infection (COI) is defined as the number of genetically distinct parasite strains in an individual. Changes in the mean COI in a population have been shown to be informative of changes in transmission intensity with a number of probabilistic likelihood and Bayesian models now developed to estimate the COI. However, rapid, direct measures based on heterozygosity or FwS do not properly represent the COI. In this work, we present two new methods that use easily calculated measures to directly estimate the COI from allele frequency data. Using a simulation framework, we show that our methods are computationally efficient and comparably accurate to current approaches in the literature. Through a sensitivity analysis, we characterize how the distribution of parasite densities, the assumed sequencing depth, and the number of sampled loci impact the bias and accuracy of our two methods. Using our developed methods, we further estimate the COI globally from Plasmodium falciparum sequencing data and compare the results against the literature. We show significant differences in the estimated COI globally between continents and a weak relationship between malaria prevalence and COI.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aris Paschalidis
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, United States of America
| | - Oliver J. Watson
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, United States of America
- Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Ozkan Aydemir
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, United States of America
- Program in Molecular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Robert Verity
- Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Jeffrey A. Bailey
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, United States of America
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20
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Ghansah A, Tiedje KE, Argyropoulos DC, Onwona CO, Deed SL, Labbé F, Oduro AR, Koram KA, Pascual M, Day KP. Comparison of molecular surveillance methods to assess changes in the population genetics of Plasmodium falciparum in high transmission. FRONTIERS IN PARASITOLOGY 2023; 2:1067966. [PMID: 38031549 PMCID: PMC10686283 DOI: 10.3389/fpara.2023.1067966] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2022] [Accepted: 03/14/2023] [Indexed: 12/01/2023]
Abstract
A major motivation for developing molecular methods for malaria surveillance is to measure the impact of control interventions on the population genetics of Plasmodium falciparum as a potential marker of progress towards elimination. Here we assess three established methods (i) single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) barcoding (panel of 24-biallelic loci), (ii) microsatellite genotyping (panel of 12-multiallelic loci), and (iii) varcoding (fingerprinting var gene diversity, akin to microhaplotyping) to identify changes in parasite population genetics in response to a short-term indoor residual spraying (IRS) intervention. Typical of high seasonal transmission in Africa, multiclonal infections were found in 82.3% (median 3; range 1-18) and 57.8% (median 2; range 1-12) of asymptomatic individuals pre- and post-IRS, respectively, in Bongo District, Ghana. Since directly phasing multilocus haplotypes for population genetic analysis is not possible for biallelic SNPs and microsatellites, we chose ~200 low-complexity infections biased to single and double clone infections for analysis. Each genotyping method presented a different pattern of change in diversity and population structure as a consequence of variability in usable data and the relative polymorphism of the molecular markers (i.e., SNPs < microsatellites < var). Varcoding and microsatellite genotyping showed the overall failure of the IRS intervention to significantly change the population structure from pre-IRS characteristics (i.e., many diverse genomes of low genetic similarity). The 24-SNP barcode provided limited information for analysis, largely due to the biallelic nature of SNPs leading to a high proportion of double-allele calls and a view of more isolate relatedness compared to microsatellites and varcoding. Relative performance, suitability, and cost-effectiveness of the methods relevant to sample size and local malaria elimination in high-transmission endemic areas are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anita Ghansah
- Department of Parasitology, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana
| | - Kathryn E. Tiedje
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Melbourne, Bio21 Institute and Peter Doherty Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Dionne C. Argyropoulos
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Melbourne, Bio21 Institute and Peter Doherty Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Christiana O. Onwona
- Department of Parasitology, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana
| | - Samantha L. Deed
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Melbourne, Bio21 Institute and Peter Doherty Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Frédéric Labbé
- Department Ecology and Evolution, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Abraham R. Oduro
- Navrongo Health Research Centre, Ghana Health Service, Navrongo, Ghana
| | - Kwadwo A. Koram
- Epidemiology Department, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana
| | - Mercedes Pascual
- Department Ecology and Evolution, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
- Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM, United States
| | - Karen P. Day
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Melbourne, Bio21 Institute and Peter Doherty Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
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21
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Camponovo F, Buckee CO, Taylor AR. Measurably recombining malaria parasites. Trends Parasitol 2023; 39:17-25. [PMID: 36435688 PMCID: PMC9893849 DOI: 10.1016/j.pt.2022.11.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2022] [Revised: 11/02/2022] [Accepted: 11/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Genomic epidemiology has guided research and policy for various viral pathogens and there has been a parallel effort towards using genomic epidemiology to combat diseases that are caused by eukaryotic pathogens, such as the malaria parasite. However, the central concept of viral genomic epidemiology, namely that of measurably mutating pathogens, does not apply easily to sexually recombining parasites. Here we introduce the related but different concept of measurably recombining malaria parasites to promote convergence around a unifying theoretical framework for malaria genomic epidemiology. Akin to viral phylodynamics, we anticipate that an inferential framework developed around recombination will help guide practical research and thus realize the full public health potential of genomic epidemiology for malaria parasites and other sexually recombining pathogens.
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22
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Schneider KA, Salas CJ. Evolutionary genetics of malaria. Front Genet 2022; 13:1030463. [PMID: 36406132 PMCID: PMC9669584 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2022.1030463] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2022] [Accepted: 09/26/2022] [Indexed: 09/08/2024] Open
Abstract
Many standard-textbook population-genetic results apply to a wide range of species. Sometimes, however, population-genetic models and principles need to be tailored to a particular species. This is particularly true for malaria, which next to tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS ranks among the economically most relevant infectious diseases. Importantly, malaria is not one disease-five human-pathogenic species of Plasmodium exist. P. falciparum is not only the most severe form of human malaria, but it also causes the majority of infections. The second most relevant species, P. vivax, is already considered a neglected disease in several endemic areas. All human-pathogenic species have distinct characteristics that are not only crucial for control and eradication efforts, but also for the population-genetics of the disease. This is particularly true in the context of selection. Namely, fitness is determined by so-called fitness components, which are determined by the parasites live-history, which differs between malaria species. The presence of hypnozoites, i.e., dormant liver-stage parasites, which can cause disease relapses, is a distinct feature of P. vivax and P. ovale sp. In P. malariae inactivated blood-stage parasites can cause a recrudescence years after the infection was clinically cured. To properly describe population-genetic processes, such as the spread of anti-malarial drug resistance, these features must be accounted for appropriately. Here, we introduce and extend a population-genetic framework for the evolutionary dynamics of malaria, which applies to all human-pathogenic malaria species. The model focuses on, but is not limited to, the spread of drug resistance. The framework elucidates how the presence of dormant liver stage or inactivated blood stage parasites that act like seed banks delay evolutionary processes. It is shown that, contrary to standard population-genetic theory, the process of selection and recombination cannot be decoupled in malaria. Furthermore, we discuss the connection between haplotype frequencies, haplotype prevalence, transmission dynamics, and relapses or recrudescence in malaria.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristan Alexander Schneider
- Department of Applied Computer- and Biosciences, University of Applied Sciences Mittweida, Mittweida, Germany
| | - Carola Janette Salas
- Department of Parasitology, U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit No 6 (NAMRU-6), Lima, Peru
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23
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Tsoungui Obama HCJ, Schneider KA. A maximum-likelihood method to estimate haplotype frequencies and prevalence alongside multiplicity of infection from SNP data. FRONTIERS IN EPIDEMIOLOGY 2022; 2:943625. [PMID: 38455338 PMCID: PMC10911023 DOI: 10.3389/fepid.2022.943625] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2022] [Accepted: 08/26/2022] [Indexed: 03/09/2024]
Abstract
The introduction of genomic methods facilitated standardized molecular disease surveillance. For instance, SNP barcodes in Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum malaria allows the characterization of haplotypes, their frequencies and prevalence to reveal temporal and spatial transmission patterns. A confounding factor is the presence of multiple genetically distinct pathogen variants within the same infection, known as multiplicity of infection (MOI). Disregarding ambiguous information, as usually done in ad-hoc approaches, leads to less confident and biased estimates. We introduce a statistical framework to obtain maximum-likelihood estimates (MLE) of haplotype frequencies and prevalence alongside MOI from malaria SNP data, i.e., multiple biallelic marker loci. The number of model parameters increases geometrically with the number of genetic markers considered and no closed-form solution exists for the MLE. Therefore, the MLE needs to be derived numerically. We use the Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm to derive the maximum-likelihood estimates, an efficient and easy-to-implement algorithm that yields a numerically stable solution. We also derive expressions for haplotype prevalence based on either all or just the unambiguous genetic information and compare both approaches. The latter corresponds to a biased ad-hoc estimate of prevalence. We assess the performance of our estimator by systematic numerical simulations assuming realistic sample sizes and various scenarios of transmission intensity. For reasonable sample sizes, and number of loci, the method has little bias. As an example, we apply the method to a dataset from Cameroon on sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine resistance in P. falciparum malaria. The method is not confined to malaria and can be applied to any infectious disease with similar transmission behavior. An easy-to-use implementation of the method as an R-script is provided.
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24
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Wong W, Volkman S, Daniels R, Schaffner S, Sy M, Ndiaye YD, Badiane AS, Deme AB, Diallo MA, Gomis J, Sy N, Ndiaye D, Wirth DF, Hartl DL. R H: a genetic metric for measuring intrahost Plasmodium falciparum relatedness and distinguishing cotransmission from superinfection. PNAS NEXUS 2022; 1:pgac187. [PMID: 36246152 PMCID: PMC9552330 DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac187] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2022] [Accepted: 09/08/2022] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
Multiple-strain (polygenomic) infections are a ubiquitous feature of Plasmodium falciparum parasite population genetics. Under simple assumptions of superinfection, polygenomic infections are hypothesized to be the result of multiple infectious bites. As a result, polygenomic infections have been used as evidence of repeat exposure and used to derive genetic metrics associated with high transmission intensity. However, not all polygenomic infections are the result of multiple infectious bites. Some result from the transmission of multiple, genetically related strains during a single infectious bite (cotransmission). Superinfection and cotransmission represent two distinct transmission processes, and distinguishing between the two could improve inferences regarding parasite transmission intensity. Here, we describe a new metric, R H, that utilizes the correlation in allelic state (heterozygosity) within polygenomic infections to estimate the likelihood that the observed complexity resulted from either superinfection or cotransmission. R H is flexible and can be applied to any type of genetic data. As a proof of concept, we used R H to quantify polygenomic relatedness and estimate cotransmission and superinfection rates from a set of 1,758 malaria infections genotyped with a 24 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) molecular barcode. Contrary to expectation, we found that cotransmission was responsible for a significant fraction of 43% to 53% of the polygenomic infections collected in three distinct epidemiological regions in Senegal. The prediction that polygenomic infections frequently result from cotransmission stresses the need to incorporate estimates of relatedness within polygenomic infections to ensure the accuracy of genomic epidemiology surveillance data for informing public health activities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wesley Wong
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 665 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Sarah Volkman
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 665 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
- College of Natural, Behavioral, and Health Sciences, Simmons University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Rachel Daniels
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 665 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
| | - Stephen Schaffner
- Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
| | - Mouhamad Sy
- Laboratory of Parasitology and Mycology, Aristide le Dantec Hospital, Cheikh Anta Diop University, Dakar 10200, Senegal
| | - Yaye Die Ndiaye
- Laboratory of Parasitology and Mycology, Aristide le Dantec Hospital, Cheikh Anta Diop University, Dakar 10200, Senegal
| | - Aida S Badiane
- Laboratory of Parasitology and Mycology, Aristide le Dantec Hospital, Cheikh Anta Diop University, Dakar 10200, Senegal
| | - Awa B Deme
- Laboratory of Parasitology and Mycology, Aristide le Dantec Hospital, Cheikh Anta Diop University, Dakar 10200, Senegal
| | - Mamadou Alpha Diallo
- Laboratory of Parasitology and Mycology, Aristide le Dantec Hospital, Cheikh Anta Diop University, Dakar 10200, Senegal
| | - Jules Gomis
- Laboratory of Parasitology and Mycology, Aristide le Dantec Hospital, Cheikh Anta Diop University, Dakar 10200, Senegal
| | - Ngayo Sy
- Laboratory of Parasitology and Mycology, Aristide le Dantec Hospital, Cheikh Anta Diop University, Dakar 10200, Senegal
| | - Daouda Ndiaye
- Laboratory of Parasitology and Mycology, Aristide le Dantec Hospital, Cheikh Anta Diop University, Dakar 10200, Senegal
| | - Dyann F Wirth
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 665 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
| | - Daniel L Hartl
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
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25
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Gerlovina I, Gerlovin B, Rodríguez-Barraquer I, Greenhouse B. Dcifer: an IBD-based method to calculate genetic distance between polyclonal infections. Genetics 2022; 222:6674513. [PMID: 36000888 PMCID: PMC9526043 DOI: 10.1093/genetics/iyac126] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2022] [Accepted: 08/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
An essential step toward reconstructing pathogen transmission and answering epidemiologically relevant questions from genomic data is obtaining pairwise genetic distance between infections. For recombining organisms such as malaria parasites, relatedness measures quantifying recent shared ancestry would provide a meaningful distance, suggesting methods based on identity by descent (IBD). While the concept of relatedness and consequently an IBD approach is fairly straightforward for individual parasites, the distance between polyclonal infections, which are prevalent in malaria, presents specific challenges, and awaits a general solution that could be applied to infections of any clonality and accommodate multiallelic (e.g. microsatellite or microhaplotype) and biallelic [single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)] data. Filling this methodological gap, we present Dcifer (Distance for complex infections: fast estimation of relatedness), a method for calculating genetic distance between polyclonal infections, which is designed for unphased data, explicitly accounts for population allele frequencies and complexity of infection, and provides reliable inference. Dcifer’s IBD-based framework allows us to define model parameters that represent interhost relatedness and to propose corresponding estimators with attractive statistical properties. By using combinatorics to account for unobserved phased haplotypes, Dcifer is able to quickly process large datasets and estimate pairwise relatedness along with measures of uncertainty. We show that Dcifer delivers accurate and interpretable results and detects related infections with statistical power that is 2–4 times greater than that of approaches based on identity by state. Applications to real data indicate that relatedness structure aligns with geographic locations. Dcifer is implemented in a comprehensive publicly available software package.
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Affiliation(s)
- Inna Gerlovina
- EPPIcenter research program, Division of HIV, ID and Global Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
| | - Boris Gerlovin
- EPPIcenter research program, Division of HIV, ID and Global Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
| | - Isabel Rodríguez-Barraquer
- EPPIcenter research program, Division of HIV, ID and Global Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
| | - Bryan Greenhouse
- EPPIcenter research program, Division of HIV, ID and Global Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
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26
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Carpi G, Gorenstein L, Harkins TT, Samadi M, Vats P. A GPU-accelerated compute framework for pathogen genomic variant identification to aid genomic epidemiology of infectious disease: a malaria case study. Brief Bioinform 2022; 23:6658853. [PMID: 35945154 PMCID: PMC9487672 DOI: 10.1093/bib/bbac314] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2022] [Revised: 06/03/2022] [Accepted: 07/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
As recently demonstrated by the COVID-19 pandemic, large-scale pathogen genomic data are crucial to characterize transmission patterns of human infectious diseases. Yet, current methods to process raw sequence data into analysis-ready variants remain slow to scale, hampering rapid surveillance efforts and epidemiological investigations for disease control. Here, we introduce an accelerated, scalable, reproducible, and cost-effective framework for pathogen genomic variant identification and present an evaluation of its performance and accuracy across benchmark datasets of Plasmodium falciparum malaria genomes. We demonstrate superior performance of the GPU framework relative to standard pipelines with mean execution time and computational costs reduced by 27× and 4.6×, respectively, while delivering 99.9% accuracy at enhanced reproducibility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giovanna Carpi
- Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.,Purdue Institute for Inflammation, Immunology, & Infectious Disease, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.,W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Lev Gorenstein
- Rosen Center for Advanced Computing, Purdue University, West Lafayette IN, USA
| | | | | | - Pankaj Vats
- NVIDIA, 2788 San Tomas, Santa Clara, CA, USA
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27
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LaVerriere E, Schwabl P, Carrasquilla M, Taylor AR, Johnson ZM, Shieh M, Panchal R, Straub TJ, Kuzma R, Watson S, Buckee CO, Andrade CM, Portugal S, Crompton PD, Traore B, Rayner JC, Corredor V, James K, Cox H, Early AM, MacInnis BL, Neafsey DE. Design and implementation of multiplexed amplicon sequencing panels to serve genomic epidemiology of infectious disease: A malaria case study. Mol Ecol Resour 2022; 22:2285-2303. [PMID: 35437908 PMCID: PMC9288814 DOI: 10.1111/1755-0998.13622] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2021] [Revised: 03/05/2022] [Accepted: 04/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Multiplexed PCR amplicon sequencing (AmpSeq) is an increasingly popular application for cost-effective monitoring of threatened species and managed wildlife populations, and shows strong potential for the genomic epidemiology of infectious disease. AmpSeq data from infectious microbes can inform disease control in multiple ways, such as by measuring drug resistance marker prevalence, distinguishing imported from local cases, and determining the effectiveness of therapeutics. We describe the design and comparative evaluation of two new AmpSeq assays for Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasites: a four-locus panel ("4CAST") composed of highly diverse antigens, and a 129-locus panel ("AMPLseq") composed of drug resistance markers, highly diverse loci for inferring relatedness, and a locus to detect Plasmodium vivax co-infection. We explore the performance of each panel in various public health use cases with in silico simulations as well as empirical experiments. The 4CAST panel appears highly suitable for evaluating the number of distinct parasite strains within samples (complexity of infection), showing strong performance across a wide range of parasitaemia levels without a DNA pre-amplification step. For relatedness inference, the larger AMPLseq panel performs similarly to two existing panels of comparable size, despite differences in the data and approach used for designing each panel. Finally, we describe an R package (paneljudge) that facilitates the design and comparative evaluation of genetic panels for relatedness estimation, and we provide general guidance on the design and implementation of AmpSeq panels for the genomic epidemiology of infectious disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily LaVerriere
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
- Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Philipp Schwabl
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
- Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Manuela Carrasquilla
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
- Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Berlin, Germany
| | - Aimee R. Taylor
- Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Zachary M. Johnson
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
- Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Meg Shieh
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
- Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Ruchit Panchal
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
- Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Timothy J. Straub
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
- Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Rebecca Kuzma
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
- Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Sean Watson
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Caroline O. Buckee
- Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Carolina M. Andrade
- Centre of Infectious Diseases, Parasitology, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Silvia Portugal
- Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Berlin, Germany
- Centre of Infectious Diseases, Parasitology, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Peter D. Crompton
- Malaria Infection Biology and Immunity Section, Laboratory of Immunogenetics, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD 20852, USA
| | - Boubacar Traore
- Mali International Center of Excellence in Research, University of Sciences, Technique and Technology of Bamako, BP 1805, Point G, Bamako, Mali
| | - Julian C. Rayner
- Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 0XY, United Kingdom
| | - Vladimir Corredor
- Departamento de Salud Pública, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia
| | - Kashana James
- Guyana National Malaria Control Program, Ministry of Health, 0592 Georgetown, Guyana
| | - Horace Cox
- Guyana Vector Control Services, Ministry of Health, 0592 Georgetown, Guyana
| | - Angela M. Early
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
- Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Bronwyn L. MacInnis
- Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Daniel E. Neafsey
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
- Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
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28
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Liu Y, Liang X, Li J, Chen J, Huang H, Zheng Y, He J, Ehapo CS, Eyi UM, Yang P, Lin L, Chen W, Sun G, Liu X, Zha G, Wang J, Wang C, Wei H, Lin M. Molecular Surveillance of Artemisinin-Based Combination Therapies Resistance in Plasmodium falciparum Parasites from Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea. Microbiol Spectr 2022; 10:e0041322. [PMID: 35670601 PMCID: PMC9241599 DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.00413-22] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) resistance has emerged and could be diffusing in Africa. As an offshore island on the African continent, the island of Bioko in Equatorial Guinea is considered severely affected and resistant to drug-resistant Plasmodium falciparum malaria. However, the spatial and temporal distribution remain unclear. Molecular monitoring targeting the Pfcrt, Pfk13, Pfpm2, and Pfmdr1 genes was conducted to provide insight into the impact of current antimalarial drug resistance on the island. Furthermore, polymorphic characteristics, haplotype network, and the effect of natural selection of the Pfk13 gene were evaluated. A total of 152 Plasmodium falciparum samples (collected from 2017 to 2019) were analyzed for copy number variation of the Pfpm2 gene and Pfk13, Pfcrt, and Pfmdr1 mutations. Statistical analysis of Pfk13 sequences was performed following different evolutionary models using 96 Bioko sequences and 1322 global sequences. The results showed that the prevalence of Pfk13, Pfcrt, and Pfmdr1 mutations was 73.68%, 78.29%, and 75.66%, respectively. Large proportions of isolates with multiple copies of Pfpm2 were observed (67.86%). In Bioko parasites, the genetic diversity of Pfk13 was low, and purifying selection was suggested by Tajima's D test (-1.644, P > 0.05) and the dN/dS test (-0.0004438, P > 0.05). The extended haplotype homozygosity analysis revealed that Pfk13_K189T, although most frequent in Africa, has not yet conferred a selective advantage for parasitic survival. The results suggested that the implementation of continuous drug monitoring on Bioko Island is an essential measure. IMPORTANCE Malaria, one of the tropical parasitic diseases with a high transmission rate in Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea, especially caused by P. falciparum is highly prevalent in this region and is commonly treated locally with ACTs. The declining antimalarial susceptibility of artemisinin-based drugs suggested that resistance to artemisinin and its derivatives is developing in P. falciparum. Copy number variants in Pfpm2 and genetic polymorphisms in Pfk13, Pfcrt, and Pfmdr1 can be used as risk assessment indicators to track the development and spread of drug resistance. This study reported for the first time the molecular surveillance of Pfpm2, Pfcrt, Pfk13, and Pfmdr1 genes in Bioko Island from 2017 to 2019 to assess the possible risk of local drug-resistant P. falciparum.
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Affiliation(s)
- YaQun Liu
- School of Food Engineering and Biotechnology, Hanshan Normal University, Chaozhou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China
| | - XueYan Liang
- School of Food Engineering and Biotechnology, Hanshan Normal University, Chaozhou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China
| | - Jian Li
- School of Basic Medical Sciences, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan, Hubei, People’s Republic of China
| | - JiangTao Chen
- The Chinese Medical Aid Team to the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People's Republic of China
- Department of Medical Laboratory, Huizhou Central Hospital, Huizhou, Guangdong, People's Republic of China
| | - HuiYing Huang
- School of Food Engineering and Biotechnology, Hanshan Normal University, Chaozhou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China
- School of Basic Medical Sciences, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan, Hubei, People’s Republic of China
| | - YuZhong Zheng
- School of Food Engineering and Biotechnology, Hanshan Normal University, Chaozhou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China
| | - JinQuan He
- The Chinese Medical Aid Team to the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People's Republic of China
| | - Carlos Salas Ehapo
- Department of Medical Laboratory, Malabo Regional Hospital, Malabo, Equatorial Guinea
| | - Urbano Monsuy Eyi
- Department of Medical Laboratory, Malabo Regional Hospital, Malabo, Equatorial Guinea
| | - PeiKui Yang
- School of Food Engineering and Biotechnology, Hanshan Normal University, Chaozhou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China
| | - LiYun Lin
- School of Food Engineering and Biotechnology, Hanshan Normal University, Chaozhou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China
| | - WeiZhong Chen
- Department of Medical Laboratory, Chaozhou People’s Hospital Affiliated to Shantou University Medical College, Chaozhou, Guangdong, People's Republic of China
| | - GuangYu Sun
- Department of Medical Laboratory, Chaozhou People’s Hospital Affiliated to Shantou University Medical College, Chaozhou, Guangdong, People's Republic of China
| | - XiangZhi Liu
- Department of Medical Laboratory, Chaozhou People’s Hospital Affiliated to Shantou University Medical College, Chaozhou, Guangdong, People's Republic of China
| | - GuangCai Zha
- School of Food Engineering and Biotechnology, Hanshan Normal University, Chaozhou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China
| | - JunLi Wang
- School of Laboratory Medicine, Youjiang Medical University for Nationalities, Baise, Guangxi, People’s Republic of China
| | - ChunFang Wang
- School of Laboratory Medicine, Youjiang Medical University for Nationalities, Baise, Guangxi, People’s Republic of China
| | - HuaGui Wei
- School of Laboratory Medicine, Youjiang Medical University for Nationalities, Baise, Guangxi, People’s Republic of China
| | - Min Lin
- School of Food Engineering and Biotechnology, Hanshan Normal University, Chaozhou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China
- School of Laboratory Medicine, Youjiang Medical University for Nationalities, Baise, Guangxi, People’s Republic of China
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29
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Ndiaye YD, Hartl DL, McGregor D, Badiane A, Fall FB, Daniels RF, Wirth DF, Ndiaye D, Volkman SK. Genetic surveillance for monitoring the impact of drug use on Plasmodium falciparum populations. Int J Parasitol Drugs Drug Resist 2021; 17:12-22. [PMID: 34333350 PMCID: PMC8342550 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpddr.2021.07.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2021] [Revised: 06/24/2021] [Accepted: 07/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
The use of antimalarial drugs is an effective strategy in the fight against malaria. However, selection of drug resistant parasites is a constant threat to the continued use of this approach. Antimalarial drugs are used not only to treat infections but also as part of population-level strategies to reduce malaria transmission toward elimination. While there is strong evidence that the ongoing use of antimalarial drugs increases the risk of the emergence and spread of drug-resistant parasites, it is less clear how population-level use of drug-based interventions like seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) or mass drug administration (MDA) may contribute to drug resistance or loss of drug efficacy. Critical to sustained use of drug-based strategies for reducing the burden of malaria is the surveillance of population-level signals related to transmission reduction and resistance selection. Here we focus on Plasmodium falciparum and discuss the genetic signatures of a parasite population that are correlated with changes in transmission and related to drug pressure and resistance as a result of drug use. We review the evidence for MDA and SMC contributing to malaria burden reduction and drug resistance selection and examine the use and impact of these interventions in Senegal. Throughout we consider best strategies for ongoing surveillance of both population and resistance signals in the context of different parasite population parameters. Finally, we propose a roadmap for ongoing surveillance during population-level drug-based interventions to reduce the global malaria burden.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - David McGregor
- Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
| | | | - Fatou Ba Fall
- Programme National de Lutte Contre le Paludisme, Senegal.
| | - Rachel F Daniels
- Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA; The Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA, USA.
| | - Dyann F Wirth
- Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA; The Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA, USA.
| | | | - Sarah K Volkman
- Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA; The Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA, USA; Simmons University, Boston, MA, USA.
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30
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Dia A, Jett C, Trevino SG, Chu CS, Sriprawat K, Anderson TJC, Nosten F, Cheeseman IH. Single-genome sequencing reveals within-host evolution of human malaria parasites. Cell Host Microbe 2021; 29:1496-1506.e3. [PMID: 34492224 DOI: 10.1016/j.chom.2021.08.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2020] [Revised: 06/17/2021] [Accepted: 08/13/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Population genomics of bulk malaria infections is unable to examine intrahost evolution; therefore, most work has focused on the role of recombination in generating genetic variation. We used single-cell sequencing protocol for low-parasitaemia infections to generate 406 near-complete single Plasmodium vivax genomes from 11 patients sampled during sequential febrile episodes. Parasite genomes contain hundreds of de novo mutations, showing strong signatures of selection, which are enriched in the ApiAP2 family of transcription factors, known targets of adaptation. Comparing 315 P. falciparum single-cell genomes from 15 patients with our P. vivax data, we find broad complementary patterns of de novo mutation at the gene and pathway level, revealing the importance of within-host evolution during malaria infections.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aliou Dia
- Host-Pathogen Interaction Program, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio, TX, USA
| | - Catherine Jett
- Host-Pathogen Interaction Program, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio, TX, USA
| | - Simon G Trevino
- Host-Pathogen Interaction Program, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio, TX, USA
| | - Cindy S Chu
- Disease Intervention and Prevention, Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine Research building, University of Oxford, Old Road campus, Oxford, UK; Shoklo Malaria Research Unit, Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Mae Sot, Thailand
| | - Kanlaya Sriprawat
- Shoklo Malaria Research Unit, Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Mae Sot, Thailand
| | - Timothy J C Anderson
- Disease Prevention and Intervention Program, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio, TX, USA
| | - François Nosten
- Disease Intervention and Prevention, Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine Research building, University of Oxford, Old Road campus, Oxford, UK; Shoklo Malaria Research Unit, Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Mae Sot, Thailand
| | - Ian H Cheeseman
- Host-Pathogen Interaction Program, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio, TX, USA.
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31
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Dia A, Cheeseman IH. Single-cell genome sequencing of protozoan parasites. Trends Parasitol 2021; 37:803-814. [PMID: 34172399 PMCID: PMC8364489 DOI: 10.1016/j.pt.2021.05.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2021] [Revised: 05/21/2021] [Accepted: 05/26/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Despite considerable genetic variation within hosts, most parasite genome sequencing studies focus on bulk samples composed of millions of cells. Analysis of bulk samples is biased toward the dominant genotype, concealing cell-to-cell variation and rare variants. To tackle this, single-cell sequencing approaches have been developed and tailored to specific host-parasite systems. These are allowing the genetic diversity and kinship in complex parasite populations to be deciphered and for de novo genetic variation to be captured. Here, we outline the methodologies being used for single-cell sequencing of parasitic protozoans, such as Plasmodium and Leishmania spp., and how these tools are being applied to understand parasite biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aliou Dia
- Host-Pathogen Interaction Program, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio, TX, USA
| | - Ian H Cheeseman
- Host-Pathogen Interaction Program, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio, TX, USA.
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32
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Hendry JA, Kwiatkowski D, McVean G. Elucidating relationships between P.falciparum prevalence and measures of genetic diversity with a combined genetic-epidemiological model of malaria. PLoS Comput Biol 2021; 17:e1009287. [PMID: 34411093 PMCID: PMC8407561 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009287] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2020] [Revised: 08/31/2021] [Accepted: 07/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
There is an abundance of malaria genetic data being collected from the field, yet using these data to understand the drivers of regional epidemiology remains a challenge. A key issue is the lack of models that relate parasite genetic diversity to epidemiological parameters. Classical models in population genetics characterize changes in genetic diversity in relation to demographic parameters, but fail to account for the unique features of the malaria life cycle. In contrast, epidemiological models, such as the Ross-Macdonald model, capture malaria transmission dynamics but do not consider genetics. Here, we have developed an integrated model encompassing both parasite evolution and regional epidemiology. We achieve this by combining the Ross-Macdonald model with an intra-host continuous-time Moran model, thus explicitly representing the evolution of individual parasite genomes in a traditional epidemiological framework. Implemented as a stochastic simulation, we use the model to explore relationships between measures of parasite genetic diversity and parasite prevalence, a widely-used metric of transmission intensity. First, we explore how varying parasite prevalence influences genetic diversity at equilibrium. We find that multiple genetic diversity statistics are correlated with prevalence, but the strength of the relationships depends on whether variation in prevalence is driven by host- or vector-related factors. Next, we assess the responsiveness of a variety of statistics to malaria control interventions, finding that those related to mixed infections respond quickly (∼months) whereas other statistics, such as nucleotide diversity, may take decades to respond. These findings provide insights into the opportunities and challenges associated with using genetic data to monitor malaria epidemiology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jason A. Hendry
- Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Dominic Kwiatkowski
- Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- Medical Research Council Centre for Genomics and Global Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Gil McVean
- Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- Medical Research Council Centre for Genomics and Global Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
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33
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MalariaGEN, Ahouidi A, Ali M, Almagro-Garcia J, Amambua-Ngwa A, Amaratunga C, Amato R, Amenga-Etego L, Andagalu B, Anderson TJC, Andrianaranjaka V, Apinjoh T, Ariani C, Ashley EA, Auburn S, Awandare GA, Ba H, Baraka V, Barry AE, Bejon P, Bertin GI, Boni MF, Borrmann S, Bousema T, Branch O, Bull PC, Busby GBJ, Chookajorn T, Chotivanich K, Claessens A, Conway D, Craig A, D'Alessandro U, Dama S, Day NPJ, Denis B, Diakite M, Djimdé A, Dolecek C, Dondorp AM, Drakeley C, Drury E, Duffy P, Echeverry DF, Egwang TG, Erko B, Fairhurst RM, Faiz A, Fanello CA, Fukuda MM, Gamboa D, Ghansah A, Golassa L, Goncalves S, Hamilton WL, Harrison GLA, Hart L, Henrichs C, Hien TT, Hill CA, Hodgson A, Hubbart C, Imwong M, Ishengoma DS, Jackson SA, Jacob CG, Jeffery B, Jeffreys AE, Johnson KJ, Jyothi D, Kamaliddin C, Kamau E, Kekre M, Kluczynski K, Kochakarn T, Konaté A, Kwiatkowski DP, Kyaw MP, Lim P, Lon C, Loua KM, Maïga-Ascofaré O, Malangone C, Manske M, Marfurt J, Marsh K, Mayxay M, Miles A, Miotto O, Mobegi V, Mokuolu OA, Montgomery J, Mueller I, Newton PN, Nguyen T, Nguyen TN, Noedl H, Nosten F, Noviyanti R, Nzila A, et alMalariaGEN, Ahouidi A, Ali M, Almagro-Garcia J, Amambua-Ngwa A, Amaratunga C, Amato R, Amenga-Etego L, Andagalu B, Anderson TJC, Andrianaranjaka V, Apinjoh T, Ariani C, Ashley EA, Auburn S, Awandare GA, Ba H, Baraka V, Barry AE, Bejon P, Bertin GI, Boni MF, Borrmann S, Bousema T, Branch O, Bull PC, Busby GBJ, Chookajorn T, Chotivanich K, Claessens A, Conway D, Craig A, D'Alessandro U, Dama S, Day NPJ, Denis B, Diakite M, Djimdé A, Dolecek C, Dondorp AM, Drakeley C, Drury E, Duffy P, Echeverry DF, Egwang TG, Erko B, Fairhurst RM, Faiz A, Fanello CA, Fukuda MM, Gamboa D, Ghansah A, Golassa L, Goncalves S, Hamilton WL, Harrison GLA, Hart L, Henrichs C, Hien TT, Hill CA, Hodgson A, Hubbart C, Imwong M, Ishengoma DS, Jackson SA, Jacob CG, Jeffery B, Jeffreys AE, Johnson KJ, Jyothi D, Kamaliddin C, Kamau E, Kekre M, Kluczynski K, Kochakarn T, Konaté A, Kwiatkowski DP, Kyaw MP, Lim P, Lon C, Loua KM, Maïga-Ascofaré O, Malangone C, Manske M, Marfurt J, Marsh K, Mayxay M, Miles A, Miotto O, Mobegi V, Mokuolu OA, Montgomery J, Mueller I, Newton PN, Nguyen T, Nguyen TN, Noedl H, Nosten F, Noviyanti R, Nzila A, Ochola-Oyier LI, Ocholla H, Oduro A, Omedo I, Onyamboko MA, Ouedraogo JB, Oyebola K, Pearson RD, Peshu N, Phyo AP, Plowe CV, Price RN, Pukrittayakamee S, Randrianarivelojosia M, Rayner JC, Ringwald P, Rockett KA, Rowlands K, Ruiz L, Saunders D, Shayo A, Siba P, Simpson VJ, Stalker J, Su XZ, Sutherland C, Takala-Harrison S, Tavul L, Thathy V, Tshefu A, Verra F, Vinetz J, Wellems TE, Wendler J, White NJ, Wright I, Yavo W, Ye H. An open dataset of Plasmodium falciparum genome variation in 7,000 worldwide samples. Wellcome Open Res 2021; 6:42. [PMID: 33824913 PMCID: PMC8008441 DOI: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16168.1] [Show More Authors] [Citation(s) in RCA: 76] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/15/2021] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
MalariaGEN is a data-sharing network that enables groups around the world to work together on the genomic epidemiology of malaria. Here we describe a new release of curated genome variation data on 7,000 Plasmodium falciparum samples from MalariaGEN partner studies in 28 malaria-endemic countries. High-quality genotype calls on 3 million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and short indels were produced using a standardised analysis pipeline. Copy number variants associated with drug resistance and structural variants that cause failure of rapid diagnostic tests were also analysed. Almost all samples showed genetic evidence of resistance to at least one antimalarial drug, and some samples from Southeast Asia carried markers of resistance to six commonly-used drugs. Genes expressed during the mosquito stage of the parasite life-cycle are prominent among loci that show strong geographic differentiation. By continuing to enlarge this open data resource we aim to facilitate research into the evolutionary processes affecting malaria control and to accelerate development of the surveillance toolkit required for malaria elimination.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Mozam Ali
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK
| | - Jacob Almagro-Garcia
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK,MRC Centre for Genomics and Global Health, Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Alfred Amambua-Ngwa
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK,Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia, at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Banjul, The Gambia
| | - Chanaki Amaratunga
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), NIH, Bethesda, USA
| | - Roberto Amato
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK,MRC Centre for Genomics and Global Health, Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Lucas Amenga-Etego
- Navrongo Health Research Centre, Ghana Health Service, Navrongo, Ghana,West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP), University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana
| | - Ben Andagalu
- United States Army Medical Research Directorate-Africa, Kenya Medical Research Institute/Walter Reed Project, Kisumu, Kenya
| | | | | | | | | | - Elizabeth A Ashley
- Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU), Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Sarah Auburn
- Menzies School of Health Research, Darwin, Australia,Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Gordon A. Awandare
- West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP), University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana,University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana
| | - Hampate Ba
- Institut National de Recherche en Santé Publique, Nouakchott, Mauritania
| | - Vito Baraka
- National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania,Department of Epidemiology, International Health Unit, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Alyssa E. Barry
- Deakin University, Geelong, Australia,Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Australia,Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Philip Bejon
- KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kilifi, Kenya
| | | | - Maciej F. Boni
- Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK,Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU), Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
| | - Steffen Borrmann
- Institute for Tropical Medicine, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Teun Bousema
- London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK,Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Oralee Branch
- NYU School of Medicine Langone Medical Center, New York, USA
| | - Peter C. Bull
- KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kilifi, Kenya,Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - George B. J. Busby
- MRC Centre for Genomics and Global Health, Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | | | | | - Antoine Claessens
- Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia, at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Banjul, The Gambia,LPHI, MIVEGEC, INSERM, CNRS, IRD, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - David Conway
- London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
| | - Alister Craig
- Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UK,Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research, Blantyre, Malawi
| | - Umberto D'Alessandro
- Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia, at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Banjul, The Gambia
| | - Souleymane Dama
- Malaria Research and Training Centre, University of Science, Techniques and Technologies of Bamako, Bamako, Mali
| | - Nicholas PJ Day
- Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU), Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Brigitte Denis
- Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research, Blantyre, Malawi
| | - Mahamadou Diakite
- Malaria Research and Training Centre, University of Science, Techniques and Technologies of Bamako, Bamako, Mali
| | - Abdoulaye Djimdé
- Malaria Research and Training Centre, University of Science, Techniques and Technologies of Bamako, Bamako, Mali
| | | | - Arjen M Dondorp
- Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU), Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Chris Drakeley
- London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
| | | | - Patrick Duffy
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), NIH, Bethesda, USA
| | - Diego F. Echeverry
- Centro Internacional de Entrenamiento e Investigaciones Médicas - CIDEIM, Cali, Colombia,Universidad Icesi, Cali, Colombia
| | | | - Berhanu Erko
- Aklilu Lemma Institute of Pathobiology, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | | | | | | | - Mark M. Fukuda
- Department of Immunology and Medicine, US Army Medical Component, Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences (USAMC-AFRIMS), Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Dionicia Gamboa
- Laboratorio ICEMR-Amazonia, Laboratorios de Investigacion y Desarrollo, Facultad de Ciencias y Filosofia, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru
| | - Anita Ghansah
- Nogouchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, Legon-Accra, Ghana
| | - Lemu Golassa
- Aklilu Lemma Institute of Pathobiology, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | | | - William L. Hamilton
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK,Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK
| | | | - Lee Hart
- MRC Centre for Genomics and Global Health, Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Christa Henrichs
- MRC Centre for Genomics and Global Health, Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Tran Tinh Hien
- Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU), Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam,Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | | | | | - Christina Hubbart
- Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | | | - Deus S. Ishengoma
- National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania,East African Consortium for Clinical Research (EACCR), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
| | - Scott A. Jackson
- Center for Applied Genetic Technologies, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
| | | | - Ben Jeffery
- MRC Centre for Genomics and Global Health, Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Anna E. Jeffreys
- Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Kimberly J. Johnson
- MRC Centre for Genomics and Global Health, Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | | | | | - Edwin Kamau
- Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, U.S. Military HIV Research Program, Silver Spring, MD, USA
| | | | - Krzysztof Kluczynski
- MRC Centre for Genomics and Global Health, Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Theerarat Kochakarn
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK,Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
| | | | - Dominic P. Kwiatkowski
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK,MRC Centre for Genomics and Global Health, Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK,Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Myat Phone Kyaw
- The Myanmar Oxford Clinical Research Unit, University of Oxford, Yangon, Myanmar,University of Public Health, Yangon, Myanmar
| | - Pharath Lim
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), NIH, Bethesda, USA,Medical Care Development International, Maryland, USA
| | - Chanthap Lon
- Department of Immunology and Medicine, US Army Medical Component, Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences (USAMC-AFRIMS), Bangkok, Thailand
| | | | - Oumou Maïga-Ascofaré
- Malaria Research and Training Centre, University of Science, Techniques and Technologies of Bamako, Bamako, Mali,Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany,Research in Tropical Medicine, Kwame Nkrumah University of Sciences and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
| | | | | | - Jutta Marfurt
- Menzies School of Health Research, Darwin, Australia
| | - Kevin Marsh
- Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK,African Academy of Sciences, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Mayfong Mayxay
- Lao-Oxford-Mahosot Hospital-Wellcome Trust Research Unit (LOMWRU), Vientiane, Lao People's Democratic Republic,Institute of Research and Education Development (IRED), University of Health Sciences, Ministry of Health, Vientiane, Lao People's Democratic Republic
| | - Alistair Miles
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK,MRC Centre for Genomics and Global Health, Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Olivo Miotto
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK,MRC Centre for Genomics and Global Health, Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK,Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU), Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Victor Mobegi
- School of Medicine, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Olugbenga A. Mokuolu
- Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria
| | - Jacqui Montgomery
- Institute of Vector-Borne Disease, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, 3800, Australia
| | - Ivo Mueller
- Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Melbourne, Australia,Barcelona Centre for International Health Research, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Paul N. Newton
- Wellcome Trust-Mahosot Hospital-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Collaboration, Vientiane, Lao People's Democratic Republic
| | | | - Thuy-Nhien Nguyen
- Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU), Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
| | - Harald Noedl
- MARIB - Malaria Research Initiative Bandarban, Bandarban, Bangladesh
| | - Francois Nosten
- Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK,Shoklo Malaria Research Unit, Bangkok, Thailand
| | | | - Alexis Nzila
- King Fahid University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUMP), Dharhran, Saudi Arabia
| | | | - Harold Ocholla
- KEMRI - Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Research Program, Kisumu, Kenya,Centre for Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Abraham Oduro
- Navrongo Health Research Centre, Ghana Health Service, Navrongo, Ghana
| | - Irene Omedo
- KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kilifi, Kenya
| | - Marie A. Onyamboko
- Kinshasa School of Public Health, University of Kinshasa, Kinshasa, Congo, Democratic Republic
| | | | - Kolapo Oyebola
- Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Lagos, Nigeria,Parasitology and Bioinformatics Unit, Faculty of Science, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria
| | - Richard D. Pearson
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK,MRC Centre for Genomics and Global Health, Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Norbert Peshu
- KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kilifi, Kenya
| | - Aung Pyae Phyo
- Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU), Bangkok, Thailand,Shoklo Malaria Research Unit, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Chris V. Plowe
- School of Medicine, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Ric N. Price
- Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU), Bangkok, Thailand,Menzies School of Health Research, Darwin, Australia,Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | | | - Milijaona Randrianarivelojosia
- Institut Pasteur de Madagascar, Antananarivo, Madagascar,Universités d'Antananarivo et de Mahajanga, Antananarivo, Madagascar
| | | | | | - Kirk A. Rockett
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK,Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | | | - Lastenia Ruiz
- Universidad Nacional de la Amazonia Peruana, Iquitos, Peru
| | - David Saunders
- Department of Immunology and Medicine, US Army Medical Component, Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences (USAMC-AFRIMS), Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Alex Shayo
- Nelson Mandela Institute of Science and Technology, Arusha, Tanzania
| | - Peter Siba
- Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research, Goroka, Papua New Guinea
| | - Victoria J. Simpson
- MRC Centre for Genomics and Global Health, Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | | | - Xin-zhuan Su
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), NIH, Bethesda, USA
| | | | - Shannon Takala-Harrison
- Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health, University of Maryland, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Livingstone Tavul
- Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research, Goroka, Papua New Guinea
| | - Vandana Thathy
- KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kilifi, Kenya,Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, New York, USA
| | | | | | - Joseph Vinetz
- Laboratorio ICEMR-Amazonia, Laboratorios de Investigacion y Desarrollo, Facultad de Ciencias y Filosofia, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru,Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Thomas E. Wellems
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), NIH, Bethesda, USA
| | - Jason Wendler
- Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Nicholas J. White
- Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU), Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Ian Wright
- MRC Centre for Genomics and Global Health, Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - William Yavo
- University Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire,Malaria Research and Control Center of the National Institute of Public Health, Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire
| | - Htut Ye
- Department of Medical Research, Yangon, Myanmar
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MalariaGEN, Ahouidi A, Ali M, Almagro-Garcia J, Amambua-Ngwa A, Amaratunga C, Amato R, Amenga-Etego L, Andagalu B, Anderson TJC, Andrianaranjaka V, Apinjoh T, Ariani C, Ashley EA, Auburn S, Awandare GA, Ba H, Baraka V, Barry AE, Bejon P, Bertin GI, Boni MF, Borrmann S, Bousema T, Branch O, Bull PC, Busby GBJ, Chookajorn T, Chotivanich K, Claessens A, Conway D, Craig A, D'Alessandro U, Dama S, Day NPJ, Denis B, Diakite M, Djimdé A, Dolecek C, Dondorp AM, Drakeley C, Drury E, Duffy P, Echeverry DF, Egwang TG, Erko B, Fairhurst RM, Faiz A, Fanello CA, Fukuda MM, Gamboa D, Ghansah A, Golassa L, Goncalves S, Hamilton WL, Harrison GLA, Hart L, Henrichs C, Hien TT, Hill CA, Hodgson A, Hubbart C, Imwong M, Ishengoma DS, Jackson SA, Jacob CG, Jeffery B, Jeffreys AE, Johnson KJ, Jyothi D, Kamaliddin C, Kamau E, Kekre M, Kluczynski K, Kochakarn T, Konaté A, Kwiatkowski DP, Kyaw MP, Lim P, Lon C, Loua KM, Maïga-Ascofaré O, Malangone C, Manske M, Marfurt J, Marsh K, Mayxay M, Miles A, Miotto O, Mobegi V, Mokuolu OA, Montgomery J, Mueller I, Newton PN, Nguyen T, Nguyen TN, Noedl H, Nosten F, Noviyanti R, Nzila A, et alMalariaGEN, Ahouidi A, Ali M, Almagro-Garcia J, Amambua-Ngwa A, Amaratunga C, Amato R, Amenga-Etego L, Andagalu B, Anderson TJC, Andrianaranjaka V, Apinjoh T, Ariani C, Ashley EA, Auburn S, Awandare GA, Ba H, Baraka V, Barry AE, Bejon P, Bertin GI, Boni MF, Borrmann S, Bousema T, Branch O, Bull PC, Busby GBJ, Chookajorn T, Chotivanich K, Claessens A, Conway D, Craig A, D'Alessandro U, Dama S, Day NPJ, Denis B, Diakite M, Djimdé A, Dolecek C, Dondorp AM, Drakeley C, Drury E, Duffy P, Echeverry DF, Egwang TG, Erko B, Fairhurst RM, Faiz A, Fanello CA, Fukuda MM, Gamboa D, Ghansah A, Golassa L, Goncalves S, Hamilton WL, Harrison GLA, Hart L, Henrichs C, Hien TT, Hill CA, Hodgson A, Hubbart C, Imwong M, Ishengoma DS, Jackson SA, Jacob CG, Jeffery B, Jeffreys AE, Johnson KJ, Jyothi D, Kamaliddin C, Kamau E, Kekre M, Kluczynski K, Kochakarn T, Konaté A, Kwiatkowski DP, Kyaw MP, Lim P, Lon C, Loua KM, Maïga-Ascofaré O, Malangone C, Manske M, Marfurt J, Marsh K, Mayxay M, Miles A, Miotto O, Mobegi V, Mokuolu OA, Montgomery J, Mueller I, Newton PN, Nguyen T, Nguyen TN, Noedl H, Nosten F, Noviyanti R, Nzila A, Ochola-Oyier LI, Ocholla H, Oduro A, Omedo I, Onyamboko MA, Ouedraogo JB, Oyebola K, Pearson RD, Peshu N, Phyo AP, Plowe CV, Price RN, Pukrittayakamee S, Randrianarivelojosia M, Rayner JC, Ringwald P, Rockett KA, Rowlands K, Ruiz L, Saunders D, Shayo A, Siba P, Simpson VJ, Stalker J, Su XZ, Sutherland C, Takala-Harrison S, Tavul L, Thathy V, Tshefu A, Verra F, Vinetz J, Wellems TE, Wendler J, White NJ, Wright I, Yavo W, Ye H. An open dataset of Plasmodium falciparum genome variation in 7,000 worldwide samples. Wellcome Open Res 2021; 6:42. [PMID: 33824913 PMCID: PMC8008441.2 DOI: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16168.2] [Show More Authors] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/28/2021] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
MalariaGEN is a data-sharing network that enables groups around the world to work together on the genomic epidemiology of malaria. Here we describe a new release of curated genome variation data on 7,000 Plasmodium falciparum samples from MalariaGEN partner studies in 28 malaria-endemic countries. High-quality genotype calls on 3 million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and short indels were produced using a standardised analysis pipeline. Copy number variants associated with drug resistance and structural variants that cause failure of rapid diagnostic tests were also analysed. Almost all samples showed genetic evidence of resistance to at least one antimalarial drug, and some samples from Southeast Asia carried markers of resistance to six commonly-used drugs. Genes expressed during the mosquito stage of the parasite life-cycle are prominent among loci that show strong geographic differentiation. By continuing to enlarge this open data resource we aim to facilitate research into the evolutionary processes affecting malaria control and to accelerate development of the surveillance toolkit required for malaria elimination.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Mozam Ali
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK
| | - Jacob Almagro-Garcia
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK,MRC Centre for Genomics and Global Health, Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Alfred Amambua-Ngwa
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK,Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia, at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Banjul, The Gambia
| | - Chanaki Amaratunga
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), NIH, Bethesda, USA
| | - Roberto Amato
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK,MRC Centre for Genomics and Global Health, Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Lucas Amenga-Etego
- Navrongo Health Research Centre, Ghana Health Service, Navrongo, Ghana,West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP), University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana
| | - Ben Andagalu
- United States Army Medical Research Directorate-Africa, Kenya Medical Research Institute/Walter Reed Project, Kisumu, Kenya
| | | | | | | | | | - Elizabeth A Ashley
- Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU), Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Sarah Auburn
- Menzies School of Health Research, Darwin, Australia,Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Gordon A. Awandare
- West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP), University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana,University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana
| | - Hampate Ba
- Institut National de Recherche en Santé Publique, Nouakchott, Mauritania
| | - Vito Baraka
- National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania,Department of Epidemiology, International Health Unit, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Alyssa E. Barry
- Deakin University, Geelong, Australia,Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Australia,Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Philip Bejon
- KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kilifi, Kenya
| | | | - Maciej F. Boni
- Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK,Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU), Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
| | - Steffen Borrmann
- Institute for Tropical Medicine, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Teun Bousema
- London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK,Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Oralee Branch
- NYU School of Medicine Langone Medical Center, New York, USA
| | - Peter C. Bull
- KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kilifi, Kenya,Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - George B. J. Busby
- MRC Centre for Genomics and Global Health, Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | | | | | - Antoine Claessens
- Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia, at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Banjul, The Gambia,LPHI, MIVEGEC, INSERM, CNRS, IRD, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - David Conway
- London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
| | - Alister Craig
- Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UK,Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research, Blantyre, Malawi
| | - Umberto D'Alessandro
- Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia, at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Banjul, The Gambia
| | - Souleymane Dama
- Malaria Research and Training Centre, University of Science, Techniques and Technologies of Bamako, Bamako, Mali
| | - Nicholas PJ Day
- Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU), Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Brigitte Denis
- Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research, Blantyre, Malawi
| | - Mahamadou Diakite
- Malaria Research and Training Centre, University of Science, Techniques and Technologies of Bamako, Bamako, Mali
| | - Abdoulaye Djimdé
- Malaria Research and Training Centre, University of Science, Techniques and Technologies of Bamako, Bamako, Mali
| | | | - Arjen M Dondorp
- Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU), Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Chris Drakeley
- London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
| | | | - Patrick Duffy
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), NIH, Bethesda, USA
| | - Diego F. Echeverry
- Centro Internacional de Entrenamiento e Investigaciones Médicas - CIDEIM, Cali, Colombia,Universidad Icesi, Cali, Colombia
| | | | - Berhanu Erko
- Aklilu Lemma Institute of Pathobiology, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | | | | | | | - Mark M. Fukuda
- Department of Immunology and Medicine, US Army Medical Component, Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences (USAMC-AFRIMS), Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Dionicia Gamboa
- Laboratorio ICEMR-Amazonia, Laboratorios de Investigacion y Desarrollo, Facultad de Ciencias y Filosofia, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru
| | - Anita Ghansah
- Nogouchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, Legon-Accra, Ghana
| | - Lemu Golassa
- Aklilu Lemma Institute of Pathobiology, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | | | - William L. Hamilton
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK,Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK
| | | | - Lee Hart
- MRC Centre for Genomics and Global Health, Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Christa Henrichs
- MRC Centre for Genomics and Global Health, Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Tran Tinh Hien
- Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU), Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam,Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | | | | | - Christina Hubbart
- Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | | | - Deus S. Ishengoma
- National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania,East African Consortium for Clinical Research (EACCR), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
| | - Scott A. Jackson
- Center for Applied Genetic Technologies, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
| | | | - Ben Jeffery
- MRC Centre for Genomics and Global Health, Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Anna E. Jeffreys
- Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Kimberly J. Johnson
- MRC Centre for Genomics and Global Health, Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | | | | | - Edwin Kamau
- Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, U.S. Military HIV Research Program, Silver Spring, MD, USA
| | | | - Krzysztof Kluczynski
- MRC Centre for Genomics and Global Health, Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Theerarat Kochakarn
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK,Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
| | | | - Dominic P. Kwiatkowski
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK,MRC Centre for Genomics and Global Health, Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK,Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Myat Phone Kyaw
- The Myanmar Oxford Clinical Research Unit, University of Oxford, Yangon, Myanmar,University of Public Health, Yangon, Myanmar
| | - Pharath Lim
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), NIH, Bethesda, USA,Medical Care Development International, Maryland, USA
| | - Chanthap Lon
- Department of Immunology and Medicine, US Army Medical Component, Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences (USAMC-AFRIMS), Bangkok, Thailand
| | | | - Oumou Maïga-Ascofaré
- Malaria Research and Training Centre, University of Science, Techniques and Technologies of Bamako, Bamako, Mali,Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany,Research in Tropical Medicine, Kwame Nkrumah University of Sciences and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
| | | | | | - Jutta Marfurt
- Menzies School of Health Research, Darwin, Australia
| | - Kevin Marsh
- Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK,African Academy of Sciences, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Mayfong Mayxay
- Lao-Oxford-Mahosot Hospital-Wellcome Trust Research Unit (LOMWRU), Vientiane, Lao People's Democratic Republic,Institute of Research and Education Development (IRED), University of Health Sciences, Ministry of Health, Vientiane, Lao People's Democratic Republic
| | - Alistair Miles
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK,MRC Centre for Genomics and Global Health, Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Olivo Miotto
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK,MRC Centre for Genomics and Global Health, Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK,Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU), Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Victor Mobegi
- School of Medicine, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Olugbenga A. Mokuolu
- Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria
| | - Jacqui Montgomery
- Institute of Vector-Borne Disease, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, 3800, Australia
| | - Ivo Mueller
- Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Melbourne, Australia,Barcelona Centre for International Health Research, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Paul N. Newton
- Wellcome Trust-Mahosot Hospital-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Collaboration, Vientiane, Lao People's Democratic Republic
| | | | - Thuy-Nhien Nguyen
- Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU), Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
| | - Harald Noedl
- MARIB - Malaria Research Initiative Bandarban, Bandarban, Bangladesh
| | - Francois Nosten
- Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK,Shoklo Malaria Research Unit, Bangkok, Thailand
| | | | - Alexis Nzila
- King Fahid University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUMP), Dharhran, Saudi Arabia
| | | | - Harold Ocholla
- KEMRI - Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Research Program, Kisumu, Kenya,Centre for Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Abraham Oduro
- Navrongo Health Research Centre, Ghana Health Service, Navrongo, Ghana
| | - Irene Omedo
- KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kilifi, Kenya
| | - Marie A. Onyamboko
- Kinshasa School of Public Health, University of Kinshasa, Kinshasa, Congo, Democratic Republic
| | | | - Kolapo Oyebola
- Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Lagos, Nigeria,Parasitology and Bioinformatics Unit, Faculty of Science, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria
| | - Richard D. Pearson
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK,MRC Centre for Genomics and Global Health, Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Norbert Peshu
- KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kilifi, Kenya
| | - Aung Pyae Phyo
- Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU), Bangkok, Thailand,Shoklo Malaria Research Unit, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Chris V. Plowe
- School of Medicine, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Ric N. Price
- Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU), Bangkok, Thailand,Menzies School of Health Research, Darwin, Australia,Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | | | - Milijaona Randrianarivelojosia
- Institut Pasteur de Madagascar, Antananarivo, Madagascar,Universités d'Antananarivo et de Mahajanga, Antananarivo, Madagascar
| | | | | | - Kirk A. Rockett
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK,Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | | | - Lastenia Ruiz
- Universidad Nacional de la Amazonia Peruana, Iquitos, Peru
| | - David Saunders
- Department of Immunology and Medicine, US Army Medical Component, Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences (USAMC-AFRIMS), Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Alex Shayo
- Nelson Mandela Institute of Science and Technology, Arusha, Tanzania
| | - Peter Siba
- Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research, Goroka, Papua New Guinea
| | - Victoria J. Simpson
- MRC Centre for Genomics and Global Health, Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | | | - Xin-zhuan Su
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), NIH, Bethesda, USA
| | | | - Shannon Takala-Harrison
- Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health, University of Maryland, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Livingstone Tavul
- Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research, Goroka, Papua New Guinea
| | - Vandana Thathy
- KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kilifi, Kenya,Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, New York, USA
| | | | | | - Joseph Vinetz
- Laboratorio ICEMR-Amazonia, Laboratorios de Investigacion y Desarrollo, Facultad de Ciencias y Filosofia, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru,Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Thomas E. Wellems
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), NIH, Bethesda, USA
| | - Jason Wendler
- Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Nicholas J. White
- Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU), Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Ian Wright
- MRC Centre for Genomics and Global Health, Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - William Yavo
- University Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire,Malaria Research and Control Center of the National Institute of Public Health, Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire
| | - Htut Ye
- Department of Medical Research, Yangon, Myanmar
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35
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Ippolito MM, Moser KA, Kabuya JBB, Cunningham C, Juliano JJ. Antimalarial Drug Resistance and Implications for the WHO Global Technical Strategy. CURR EPIDEMIOL REP 2021; 8:46-62. [PMID: 33747712 PMCID: PMC7955901 DOI: 10.1007/s40471-021-00266-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 59] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/01/2021] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW Five years have passed since the World Health Organization released its Global Technical Strategy for Malaria (GTS). In that time, progress against malaria has plateaued. This review focuses on the implications of antimalarial drug resistance for the GTS and how interim progress in parasite genomics and antimalarial pharmacology offer a bulwark against it. RECENT FINDINGS For the first time, drug resistance-conferring genes have been identified and validated before their global expansion in malaria parasite populations. More efficient methods for their detection and elaboration have been developed, although low-density infections and polyclonality remain a nuisance to be solved. Clinical trials of alternative regimens for multidrug-resistant malaria have delivered promising results. New agents continue down the development pipeline, while a nascent infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa for conducting phase I trials and trials of transmission-blocking agents has come to fruition after years of preparation. SUMMARY These and other developments can help inform the GTS as the world looks ahead to the next two decades of its implementation. To remain ahead of the threat that drug resistance poses, wider application of genomic-based surveillance and optimization of existing and forthcoming antimalarial drugs are essential.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew M. Ippolito
- Divisions of Clinical Pharmacology and Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD USA
- The Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD USA
- Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD USA
| | - Kara A. Moser
- Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC USA
| | | | - Clark Cunningham
- School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC USA
| | - Jonathan J. Juliano
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, CB#7030, 130 Mason Farm Rd, Chapel Hill, NC 27599 USA
- Curriculum in Genetics and Molecular Biology, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC USA
- Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC USA
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36
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Shi SM, Shi TQ, Chen SB, Cui YB, Kassegne K, Okpeku M, Chen JH, Shen HM. Genome-Wide Scans for Ghanaian Plasmodium falciparum Genes Under Selection From Local and Chinese Host Populations. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2021; 11:630797. [PMID: 33718278 PMCID: PMC7947188 DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2021.630797] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2020] [Accepted: 01/07/2021] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Initial malarial infection mostly causes symptomatic illness in humans. Infection that is not fatal induces complete protection from severe illness and death, and thus complete protection from severe illness or death is granted with sufficient exposure. However, malaria parasite immunity necessitates constant exposure. Therefore, it is important to evaluate lowered immunity and recurrent susceptibility to symptomatic disease in lower transmission areas. We aimed to investigate selection pressure based on transmission levels, antimalarial drug use, and environmental factors. We whole genome sequenced (WGS) P. falciparum clinical samples from Chinese hosts working in Ghana and compared the results with the WGS data of isolates from native Ghanaians downloaded from pf3k. The P. falciparum samples were generally clustered according to their geographic origin, and Chinese imported samples showed a clear African origin with a slightly different distribution from the native Ghanaian samples. Moreover, samples collected from two host populations showed evidence of differences in the intensity of selection. Compared with native Ghanaian samples, the China-imported isolates exhibited a higher proportion of monoclonal infections, and many genes associated with RBC invasion and immune evasion were found to be under less selection pressure. There was no significant difference in the selection of drug-resistance genes due to a similar artemisinin-based combination therapy medication profile. Local selection of malarial parasites is considered to be a result of differences in the host immunity or disparity in the transmission opportunities of the host. In China, most P. falciparum infections were imported from Africa, and under these circumstances, distinct local selective pressures may be caused by varying acquired immunity and transmission intensity. This study revealed the impact of host switching on the immune system, and it may provide a better understanding of the mechanisms that enable clinical immunity to malaria.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shan-Mei Shi
- National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Key Laboratory of Parasite and Vector Biology of the Chinese Ministry of Health, National Centre for International Research on Tropical Diseases, WHO Collaborating Center for Tropical Diseases, Shanghai, China
| | - Tian-Qi Shi
- National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Key Laboratory of Parasite and Vector Biology of the Chinese Ministry of Health, National Centre for International Research on Tropical Diseases, WHO Collaborating Center for Tropical Diseases, Shanghai, China
| | - Shen-Bo Chen
- National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Key Laboratory of Parasite and Vector Biology of the Chinese Ministry of Health, National Centre for International Research on Tropical Diseases, WHO Collaborating Center for Tropical Diseases, Shanghai, China
| | - Yan-Bing Cui
- National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Key Laboratory of Parasite and Vector Biology of the Chinese Ministry of Health, National Centre for International Research on Tropical Diseases, WHO Collaborating Center for Tropical Diseases, Shanghai, China
| | - Kokouvi Kassegne
- National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Key Laboratory of Parasite and Vector Biology of the Chinese Ministry of Health, National Centre for International Research on Tropical Diseases, WHO Collaborating Center for Tropical Diseases, Shanghai, China.,School of Global Health, Chinese Centre for Tropical Diseases Research, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Moses Okpeku
- Discipline of Genetics, School of Life Science, University of Kwazulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
| | - Jun-Hu Chen
- National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Key Laboratory of Parasite and Vector Biology of the Chinese Ministry of Health, National Centre for International Research on Tropical Diseases, WHO Collaborating Center for Tropical Diseases, Shanghai, China.,School of Global Health, Chinese Centre for Tropical Diseases Research, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.,National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention⁃Shenzhen Centre for Disease Control and Prevention Joint Laboratory for Imported Tropical Disease Control, Shanghai, China
| | - Hai-Mo Shen
- National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Key Laboratory of Parasite and Vector Biology of the Chinese Ministry of Health, National Centre for International Research on Tropical Diseases, WHO Collaborating Center for Tropical Diseases, Shanghai, China
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37
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Watson OJ, Okell LC, Hellewell J, Slater HC, Unwin HJT, Omedo I, Bejon P, Snow RW, Noor AM, Rockett K, Hubbart C, Nankabirwa JI, Greenhouse B, Chang HH, Ghani AC, Verity R. Evaluating the Performance of Malaria Genetics for Inferring Changes in Transmission Intensity Using Transmission Modeling. Mol Biol Evol 2021; 38:274-289. [PMID: 32898225 PMCID: PMC7783189 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msaa225] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Substantial progress has been made globally to control malaria, however there is a growing need for innovative new tools to ensure continued progress. One approach is to harness genetic sequencing and accompanying methodological approaches as have been used in the control of other infectious diseases. However, to utilize these methodologies for malaria, we first need to extend the methods to capture the complex interactions between parasites, human and vector hosts, and environment, which all impact the level of genetic diversity and relatedness of malaria parasites. We develop an individual-based transmission model to simulate malaria parasite genetics parameterized using estimated relationships between complexity of infection and age from five regions in Uganda and Kenya. We predict that cotransmission and superinfection contribute equally to within-host parasite genetic diversity at 11.5% PCR prevalence, above which superinfections dominate. Finally, we characterize the predictive power of six metrics of parasite genetics for detecting changes in transmission intensity, before grouping them in an ensemble statistical model. The model predicted malaria prevalence with a mean absolute error of 0.055. Different assumptions about the availability of sample metadata were considered, with the most accurate predictions of malaria prevalence made when the clinical status and age of sampled individuals is known. Parasite genetics may provide a novel surveillance tool for estimating the prevalence of malaria in areas in which prevalence surveys are not feasible. However, the findings presented here reinforce the need for patient metadata to be recorded and made available within all future attempts to use parasite genetics for surveillance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oliver J Watson
- MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Lucy C Okell
- MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Joel Hellewell
- MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Hannah C Slater
- MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - H Juliette T Unwin
- MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Irene Omedo
- KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Centre for Geographic Medicine Research-Coast, Kilifi, Kenya
| | - Philip Bejon
- KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Centre for Geographic Medicine Research-Coast, Kilifi, Kenya
| | - Robert W Snow
- Population Health Unit, Kenya Medical Research Institute—Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Nairobi, Kenya
- Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | | | - Kirk Rockett
- Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Christina Hubbart
- Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Joaniter I Nankabirwa
- Infectious Diseases Research Collaboration, Kampala, Uganda
- Makerere University College of Health Sciences, Kampala, Uganda
| | - Bryan Greenhouse
- Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
| | - Hsiao-Han Chang
- Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA
| | - Azra C Ghani
- MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Robert Verity
- MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
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He X, Xia L, Tumas KC, Wu J, Su XZ. Type I Interferons and Malaria: A Double-Edge Sword Against a Complex Parasitic Disease. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2020; 10:594621. [PMID: 33344264 PMCID: PMC7738626 DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2020.594621] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2020] [Accepted: 10/30/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Type I interferons (IFN-Is) are important cytokines playing critical roles in various infections, autoimmune diseases, and cancer. Studies have also shown that IFN-Is exhibit 'conflicting' roles in malaria parasite infections. Malaria parasites have a complex life cycle with multiple developing stages in two hosts. Both the liver and blood stages of malaria parasites in a vertebrate host stimulate IFN-I responses. IFN-Is have been shown to inhibit liver and blood stage development, to suppress T cell activation and adaptive immune response, and to promote production of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines in animal models. Different parasite species or strains trigger distinct IFN-I responses. For example, a Plasmodium yoelii strain can stimulate a strong IFN-I response during early infection, whereas its isogenetic strain does not. Host genetic background also greatly influences IFN-I production during malaria infections. Consequently, the effects of IFN-Is on parasitemia and disease symptoms are highly variable depending on the combination of parasite and host species or strains. Toll-like receptor (TLR) 7, TLR9, melanoma differentiation-associated protein 5 (MDA5), and cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) coupled with stimulator of interferon genes (STING) are the major receptors for recognizing parasite nucleic acids (RNA/DNA) to trigger IFN-I responses. IFN-I levels in vivo are tightly regulated, and various novel molecules have been identified to regulate IFN-I responses during malaria infections. Here we review the major findings and progress in ligand recognition, signaling pathways, functions, and regulation of IFN-I responses during malaria infections.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiao He
- Malaria Functional Genomics Section, Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Lu Xia
- Malaria Functional Genomics Section, Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
- Center for Medical Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Keyla C. Tumas
- Malaria Functional Genomics Section, Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Jian Wu
- Malaria Functional Genomics Section, Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Xin-Zhuan Su
- Malaria Functional Genomics Section, Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
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39
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Siegel SV, Rayner JC. Single cell sequencing shines a light on malaria parasite relatedness in complex infections. Trends Parasitol 2020; 36:83-85. [PMID: 31883706 DOI: 10.1016/j.pt.2019.12.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2019] [Accepted: 12/18/2019] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Recent genomic studies are investigating the wide-ranging implications of malaria complex infections on parasite diversity, transmission, and downstream disease eradication efforts. Using single cell sequencing, new work by Nkhoma et al. provides evidence that there is unexpectedly frequent co-transmission of related parasites in the intense transmission setting in Malawi.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sasha V Siegel
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Cambridge CB10 1SA, United Kingdom.
| | - Julian C Rayner
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Cambridge CB10 1SA, United Kingdom; Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, University of Cambridge, Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 0XY, United Kingdom
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40
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Intrinsic multiplication rate variation and plasticity of human blood stage malaria parasites. Commun Biol 2020; 3:624. [PMID: 33116247 PMCID: PMC7595149 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-020-01349-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2020] [Accepted: 10/01/2020] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Pathogen multiplication rate is theoretically an important determinant of virulence, although often poorly understood and difficult to measure accurately. We show intrinsic asexual blood stage multiplication rate variation of the major human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum to be associated with blood-stage infection intensity in patients. A panel of clinical isolates from a highly endemic West African population was analysed repeatedly during five months of continuous laboratory culture, showing a range of exponential multiplication rates at all timepoints tested, mean rates increasing over time. All isolates had different genome sequences, many containing within-isolate diversity that decreased over time in culture, but increases in multiplication rates were not primarily attributable to genomic selection. New mutants, including premature stop codons emerging in a few isolates, did not attain sufficiently high frequencies to substantially affect overall multiplication rates. Significantly, multiplication rate variation among the isolates at each of the assayed culture timepoints robustly correlated with parasite levels seen in patients at clinical presentation, indicating innate parasite control of multiplication rate that contributes to virulence. Lindsay Stewart et al. analyze clinical isolates of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum from a highly endemic West African population and show that intrinsic multiplication rate variation is associated with blood-stage infection intensity. Their results indicate that parasite control of multiplication contributes to virulence.
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41
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Su XZ, Zhang C, Joy DA. Host-Malaria Parasite Interactions and Impacts on Mutual Evolution. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2020; 10:587933. [PMID: 33194831 PMCID: PMC7652737 DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2020.587933] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2020] [Accepted: 09/22/2020] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Malaria is the most deadly parasitic disease, affecting hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Malaria parasites have been associated with their hosts for millions of years. During the long history of host-parasite co-evolution, both parasites and hosts have applied pressure on each other through complex host-parasite molecular interactions. Whereas the hosts activate various immune mechanisms to remove parasites during an infection, the parasites attempt to evade host immunity by diversifying their genome and switching expression of targets of the host immune system. Human intervention to control the disease such as antimalarial drugs and vaccination can greatly alter parasite population dynamics and evolution, particularly the massive applications of antimalarial drugs in recent human history. Vaccination is likely the best method to prevent the disease; however, a partially protective vaccine may have unwanted consequences that require further investigation. Studies of host-parasite interactions and co-evolution will provide important information for designing safe and effective vaccines and for preventing drug resistance. In this essay, we will discuss some interesting molecules involved in host-parasite interactions, including important parasite antigens. We also discuss subjects relevant to drug and vaccine development and some approaches for studying host-parasite interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xin-Zhuan Su
- Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Cui Zhang
- Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Deirdre A Joy
- Parasitology and International Programs Branch, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
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42
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Watson JA, Taylor AR, Ashley EA, Dondorp A, Buckee CO, White NJ, Holmes CC. A cautionary note on the use of unsupervised machine learning algorithms to characterise malaria parasite population structure from genetic distance matrices. PLoS Genet 2020; 16:e1009037. [PMID: 33035220 PMCID: PMC7577480 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1009037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2020] [Revised: 10/21/2020] [Accepted: 08/08/2020] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Genetic surveillance of malaria parasites supports malaria control programmes, treatment guidelines and elimination strategies. Surveillance studies often pose questions about malaria parasite ancestry (e.g. how antimalarial resistance has spread) and employ statistical methods that characterise parasite population structure. Many of the methods used to characterise structure are unsupervised machine learning algorithms which depend on a genetic distance matrix, notably principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) and hierarchical agglomerative clustering (HAC). PCoA and HAC are sensitive to both the definition of genetic distance and algorithmic specification. Importantly, neither algorithm infers malaria parasite ancestry. As such, PCoA and HAC can inform (e.g. via exploratory data visualisation and hypothesis generation), but not answer comprehensively, key questions about malaria parasite ancestry. We illustrate the sensitivity of PCoA and HAC using 393 Plasmodium falciparum whole genome sequences collected from Cambodia and neighbouring regions (where antimalarial resistance has emerged and spread recently) and we provide tentative guidance for the use and interpretation of PCoA and HAC in malaria parasite genetic epidemiology. This guidance includes a call for fully transparent and reproducible analysis pipelines that feature (i) a clearly outlined scientific question; (ii) a clear justification of analytical methods used to answer the scientific question along with discussion of any inferential limitations; (iii) publicly available genetic distance matrices when downstream analyses depend on them; and (iv) sensitivity analyses. To bridge the inferential disconnect between the output of non-inferential unsupervised learning algorithms and the scientific questions of interest, tailor-made statistical models are needed to infer malaria parasite ancestry. In the absence of such models speculative reasoning should feature only as discussion but not as results.
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Affiliation(s)
- James A. Watson
- Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
- Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Aimee R. Taylor
- Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Elizabeth A. Ashley
- Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- Lao-Oxford-Mahosot Hospital Wellcome Trust Research Unit, Vientiane, Laos
| | - Arjen Dondorp
- Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
- Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Caroline O. Buckee
- Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Nicholas J. White
- Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
- Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Chris C. Holmes
- Department of Statistics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
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Battey CJ, Ralph PL, Kern AD. Predicting geographic location from genetic variation with deep neural networks. eLife 2020; 9:e54507. [PMID: 32511092 PMCID: PMC7324158 DOI: 10.7554/elife.54507] [Citation(s) in RCA: 56] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2019] [Accepted: 06/03/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Most organisms are more closely related to nearby than distant members of their species, creating spatial autocorrelations in genetic data. This allows us to predict the location of origin of a genetic sample by comparing it to a set of samples of known geographic origin. Here, we describe a deep learning method, which we call Locator, to accomplish this task faster and more accurately than existing approaches. In simulations, Locator infers sample location to within 4.1 generations of dispersal and runs at least an order of magnitude faster than a recent model-based approach. We leverage Locator's computational efficiency to predict locations separately in windows across the genome, which allows us to both quantify uncertainty and describe the mosaic ancestry and patterns of geographic mixing that characterize many populations. Applied to whole-genome sequence data from Plasmodium parasites, Anopheles mosquitoes, and global human populations, this approach yields median test errors of 16.9km, 5.7km, and 85km, respectively.
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Affiliation(s)
- CJ Battey
- University of Oregon, Institute of Ecology and EvolutionEugeneUnited States
| | - Peter L Ralph
- University of Oregon, Institute of Ecology and EvolutionEugeneUnited States
| | - Andrew D Kern
- University of Oregon, Institute of Ecology and EvolutionEugeneUnited States
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44
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Mathieu LC, Cox H, Early AM, Mok S, Lazrek Y, Paquet JC, Ade MP, Lucchi NW, Grant Q, Udhayakumar V, Alexandre JS, Demar M, Ringwald P, Neafsey DE, Fidock DA, Musset L. Local emergence in Amazonia of Plasmodium falciparum k13 C580Y mutants associated with in vitro artemisinin resistance. eLife 2020; 9:51015. [PMID: 32394893 PMCID: PMC7217694 DOI: 10.7554/elife.51015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 111] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2019] [Accepted: 03/25/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Antimalarial drug resistance has historically arisen through convergent de novo mutations in Plasmodium falciparum parasite populations in Southeast Asia and South America. For the past decade in Southeast Asia, artemisinins, the core component of first-line antimalarial therapies, have experienced delayed parasite clearance associated with several pfk13 mutations, primarily C580Y. We report that mutant pfk13 has emerged independently in Guyana, with genome analysis indicating an evolutionary origin distinct from Southeast Asia. Pfk13 C580Y parasites were observed in 1.6% (14/854) of samples collected in Guyana in 2016-2017. Introducing pfk13 C580Y or R539T mutations by gene editing into local parasites conferred high levels of in vitro artemisinin resistance. In vitro growth competition assays revealed a fitness cost associated with these pfk13 variants, potentially explaining why these resistance alleles have not increased in frequency more quickly in South America. These data place local malaria control efforts at risk in the Guiana Shield.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luana C Mathieu
- Laboratoire de parasitologie, Centre Nationale de Référence du Paludisme, World Health Organization Collaborating Center for surveillance of antimalarial drug resistance, Institut Pasteur de la Guyane, Cayenne, French Guiana.,Ecole Doctorale n°587, Diversités, Santé, et Développement en Amazonie, Université de Guyane, Cayenne, French Guiana
| | - Horace Cox
- Ministry of Public Health, Georgetown, Guyana
| | - Angela M Early
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, United States.,Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, United States
| | - Sachel Mok
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, United States
| | - Yassamine Lazrek
- Laboratoire de parasitologie, Centre Nationale de Référence du Paludisme, World Health Organization Collaborating Center for surveillance of antimalarial drug resistance, Institut Pasteur de la Guyane, Cayenne, French Guiana
| | - Jeanne-Celeste Paquet
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, United States
| | - Maria-Paz Ade
- Department of Communicable Diseases and Environmental Determinants of Health, Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization, Washington, United States
| | - Naomi W Lucchi
- Malaria Branch, Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria, Center for Global Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, United States
| | - Quacy Grant
- Ministry of Public Health, Georgetown, Guyana
| | - Venkatachalam Udhayakumar
- Malaria Branch, Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria, Center for Global Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, United States
| | | | - Magalie Demar
- Service de Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales, Centre Hospitalier Andrée Rosemon, Cayenne, French Guiana.,Ecosystèmes Amazoniens et Pathologie Tropicale (EPAT), EA3593, Université de Guyane, Cayenne, French Guiana
| | - Pascal Ringwald
- Global Malaria Program, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Daniel E Neafsey
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, United States.,Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, United States
| | - David A Fidock
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, United States.,Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, United States
| | - Lise Musset
- Laboratoire de parasitologie, Centre Nationale de Référence du Paludisme, World Health Organization Collaborating Center for surveillance of antimalarial drug resistance, Institut Pasteur de la Guyane, Cayenne, French Guiana
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45
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Morgan AP, Brazeau NF, Ngasala B, Mhamilawa LE, Denton M, Msellem M, Morris U, Filer DL, Aydemir O, Bailey JA, Parr JB, Mårtensson A, Bjorkman A, Juliano JJ. Falciparum malaria from coastal Tanzania and Zanzibar remains highly connected despite effective control efforts on the archipelago. Malar J 2020; 19:47. [PMID: 31992305 PMCID: PMC6988337 DOI: 10.1186/s12936-020-3137-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2019] [Accepted: 01/22/2020] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Tanzania's Zanzibar archipelago has made significant gains in malaria control over the last decade and is a target for malaria elimination. Despite consistent implementation of effective tools since 2002, elimination has not been achieved. Importation of parasites from outside of the archipelago is thought to be an important cause of malaria's persistence, but this paradigm has not been studied using modern genetic tools. METHODS Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) was used to investigate the impact of importation, employing population genetic analyses of Plasmodium falciparum isolates from both the archipelago and mainland Tanzania. Ancestry, levels of genetic diversity and differentiation, patterns of relatedness, and patterns of selection between these two populations were assessed by leveraging recent advances in deconvolution of genomes from polyclonal malaria infections. RESULTS Significant decreases in the effective population sizes were inferred in both populations that coincide with a period of decreasing malaria transmission in Tanzania. Identity by descent analysis showed that parasites in the two populations shared long segments of their genomes, on the order of 5 cM, suggesting shared ancestry within the last 10 generations. Even with limited sampling, two of isolates between the mainland and Zanzibar were identified that are related at the expected level of half-siblings, consistent with recent importation. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that importation plays an important role for malaria incidence on Zanzibar and demonstrate the value of genomic approaches for identifying corridors of parasite movement to the island.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew P Morgan
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
| | - Nicholas F Brazeau
- Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
| | - Billy Ngasala
- Department of Parasitology and Medical Entomology, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
| | - Lwidiko E Mhamilawa
- Department of Parasitology and Medical Entomology, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
- Department of Women's and Children's Health, International Maternal and Child Health (IMCH), Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Madeline Denton
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
| | - Mwinyi Msellem
- Training and Research, Mnazi Mmoja Hospital, Zanzibar, Tanzania
| | - Ulrika Morris
- Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet, 17177, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Dayne L Filer
- Curriculum in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
| | - Ozkan Aydemir
- Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02912, USA
| | - Jeffrey A Bailey
- Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02912, USA
| | - Jonathan B Parr
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
| | - Andreas Mårtensson
- Department of Women's and Children's Health, International Maternal and Child Health (IMCH), Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Anders Bjorkman
- Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet, 17177, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Jonathan J Juliano
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA.
- Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA.
- Curriculum in Genetics and Molecular Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA.
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46
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Taylor AR, Watson JA, Chu CS, Puaprasert K, Duanguppama J, Day NPJ, Nosten F, Neafsey DE, Buckee CO, Imwong M, White NJ. Resolving the cause of recurrent Plasmodium vivax malaria probabilistically. Nat Commun 2019; 10:5595. [PMID: 31811128 PMCID: PMC6898227 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-13412-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 67] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2019] [Accepted: 10/29/2019] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Relapses arising from dormant liver-stage Plasmodium vivax parasites (hypnozoites) are a major cause of vivax malaria. However, in endemic areas, a recurrent blood-stage infection following treatment can be hypnozoite-derived (relapse), a blood-stage treatment failure (recrudescence), or a newly acquired infection (reinfection). Each of these requires a different prevention strategy, but it was not previously possible to distinguish between them reliably. We show that individual vivax malaria recurrences can be characterised probabilistically by combined modelling of time-to-event and genetic data within a framework incorporating identity-by-descent. Analysis of pooled patient data on 1441 recurrent P. vivax infections in 1299 patients on the Thailand-Myanmar border observed over 1000 patient follow-up years shows that, without primaquine radical curative treatment, 3 in 4 patients relapse. In contrast, after supervised high-dose primaquine only 1 in 40 relapse. In this region of frequent relapsing P. vivax, failure rates after supervised high-dose primaquine are significantly lower (∼3%) than estimated previously.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aimee R Taylor
- Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, 02142, USA.
| | - James A Watson
- Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, 10400, Thailand.
- Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7FZ, UK.
| | - Cindy S Chu
- Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7FZ, UK
- Shoklo Malaria Research Unit, Mae Sot, Tak Province, 63110, Thailand
| | - Kanokpich Puaprasert
- Department of Molecular Tropical Medicine and Genetics, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, 10400, Thailand
| | - Jureeporn Duanguppama
- Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, 10400, Thailand
| | - Nicholas P J Day
- Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, 10400, Thailand
- Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7FZ, UK
| | - Francois Nosten
- Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7FZ, UK
- Shoklo Malaria Research Unit, Mae Sot, Tak Province, 63110, Thailand
| | - Daniel E Neafsey
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, 02142, USA
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Caroline O Buckee
- Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Mallika Imwong
- Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, 10400, Thailand
- Department of Molecular Tropical Medicine and Genetics, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, 10400, Thailand
| | - Nicholas J White
- Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, 10400, Thailand.
- Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7FZ, UK.
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47
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Auburn S, Getachew S, Pearson RD, Amato R, Miotto O, Trimarsanto H, Zhu SJ, Rumaseb A, Marfurt J, Noviyanti R, Grigg MJ, Barber B, William T, Goncalves SM, Drury E, Sriprawat K, Anstey NM, Nosten F, Petros B, Aseffa A, McVean G, Kwiatkowski DP, Price RN. Genomic Analysis of Plasmodium vivax in Southern Ethiopia Reveals Selective Pressures in Multiple Parasite Mechanisms. J Infect Dis 2019; 220:1738-1749. [PMID: 30668735 PMCID: PMC6804337 DOI: 10.1093/infdis/jiz016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2018] [Accepted: 01/18/2019] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
The Horn of Africa harbors the largest reservoir of Plasmodium vivax in the continent. Most of sub-Saharan Africa has remained relatively vivax-free due to a high prevalence of the human Duffy-negative trait, but the emergence of strains able to invade Duffy-negative reticulocytes poses a major public health threat. We undertook the first population genomic investigation of P. vivax from the region, comparing the genomes of 24 Ethiopian isolates against data from Southeast Asia to identify important local adaptions. The prevalence of the Duffy binding protein amplification in Ethiopia was 79%, potentially reflecting adaptation to Duffy negativity. There was also evidence of selection in a region upstream of the chloroquine resistance transporter, a putative chloroquine-resistance determinant. Strong signals of selection were observed in genes involved in immune evasion and regulation of gene expression, highlighting the need for a multifaceted intervention approach to combat P. vivax in the region.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Auburn
- Global and Tropical Health Division, Menzies School of Health Research and Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
- Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Sisay Getachew
- College of Natural Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- Armauer Hansen Research Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Richard D Pearson
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge
- Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Roberto Amato
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge
- Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Olivo Miotto
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge
- Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, Oxford, United Kingdom
- Mahidol–Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Hidayat Trimarsanto
- Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology, Jakarta, Indonesia
- Agency for Assessment and Application of Technology, Jakarta, Indonesia
| | - Sha Joe Zhu
- Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Angela Rumaseb
- Global and Tropical Health Division, Menzies School of Health Research and Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
| | - Jutta Marfurt
- Global and Tropical Health Division, Menzies School of Health Research and Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
| | | | - Matthew J Grigg
- Global and Tropical Health Division, Menzies School of Health Research and Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
- Infectious Diseases Society, Sabah-Menzies School of Health Research Clinical Research Unit, Sabah, Malaysia
| | - Bridget Barber
- Global and Tropical Health Division, Menzies School of Health Research and Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
- Infectious Diseases Society, Sabah-Menzies School of Health Research Clinical Research Unit, Sabah, Malaysia
| | - Timothy William
- Infectious Diseases Society, Sabah-Menzies School of Health Research Clinical Research Unit, Sabah, Malaysia
- Clinical Research Centre, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Sabah, Malaysia
- Jesselton Medical Centre, Sabah, Malaysia
| | | | | | - Kanlaya Sriprawat
- Shoklo Malaria Research Unit, Mahidol–Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Mae Sot, Thailand
| | - Nicholas M Anstey
- Global and Tropical Health Division, Menzies School of Health Research and Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
| | - Francois Nosten
- Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
- Shoklo Malaria Research Unit, Mahidol–Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Mae Sot, Thailand
| | - Beyene Petros
- College of Natural Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Abraham Aseffa
- Armauer Hansen Research Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Gil McVean
- Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Dominic P Kwiatkowski
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge
- Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Ric N Price
- Global and Tropical Health Division, Menzies School of Health Research and Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
- Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
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48
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Li X, Kumar S, McDew-White M, Haile M, Cheeseman IH, Emrich S, Button-Simons K, Nosten F, Kappe SHI, Ferdig MT, Anderson TJC, Vaughan AM. Genetic mapping of fitness determinants across the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum life cycle. PLoS Genet 2019; 15:e1008453. [PMID: 31609965 PMCID: PMC6821138 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1008453] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2019] [Revised: 10/30/2019] [Accepted: 10/01/2019] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Determining the genetic basis of fitness is central to understanding evolution and transmission of microbial pathogens. In human malaria parasites (Plasmodium falciparum), most experimental work on fitness has focused on asexual blood stage parasites, because this stage can be easily cultured, although the transmission of malaria requires both female Anopheles mosquitoes and vertebrate hosts. We explore a powerful approach to identify the genetic determinants of parasite fitness across both invertebrate and vertebrate life-cycle stages of P. falciparum. This combines experimental genetic crosses using humanized mice, with selective whole genome amplification and pooled sequencing to determine genome-wide allele frequencies and identify genomic regions under selection across multiple lifecycle stages. We applied this approach to genetic crosses between artemisinin resistant (ART-R, kelch13-C580Y) and ART-sensitive (ART-S, kelch13-WT) parasites, recently isolated from Southeast Asian patients. Two striking results emerge: we observed (i) a strong genome-wide skew (>80%) towards alleles from the ART-R parent in the mosquito stage, that dropped to ~50% in the blood stage as selfed ART-R parasites were selected against; and (ii) repeatable allele specific skews in blood stage parasites with particularly strong selection (selection coefficient (s) ≤ 0.18/asexual cycle) against alleles from the ART-R parent at loci on chromosome 12 containing MRP2 and chromosome 14 containing ARPS10. This approach robustly identifies selected loci and has strong potential for identifying parasite genes that interact with the mosquito vector or compensatory loci involved in drug resistance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xue Li
- Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas, United States of America
| | - Sudhir Kumar
- Center for Global Infectious Disease Research, Seattle Children’s Research Institute, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Marina McDew-White
- Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas, United States of America
| | - Meseret Haile
- Center for Global Infectious Disease Research, Seattle Children’s Research Institute, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Ian H. Cheeseman
- Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas, United States of America
| | - Scott Emrich
- Eck Institute for Global Health, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, United States of America
- Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, United States of America
| | - Katie Button-Simons
- Eck Institute for Global Health, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, United States of America
| | - François Nosten
- Shoklo Malaria Research Unit, Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Mae Sot, Thailand
- Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Stefan H. I. Kappe
- Center for Global Infectious Disease Research, Seattle Children’s Research Institute, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
- Department of Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Michael T. Ferdig
- Eck Institute for Global Health, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, United States of America
| | - Tim J. C. Anderson
- Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas, United States of America
- * E-mail: (TJCA); (AMV)
| | - Ashley M. Vaughan
- Center for Global Infectious Disease Research, Seattle Children’s Research Institute, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
- * E-mail: (TJCA); (AMV)
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49
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Tessema SK, Raman J, Duffy CW, Ishengoma DS, Amambua-Ngwa A, Greenhouse B. Applying next-generation sequencing to track falciparum malaria in sub-Saharan Africa. Malar J 2019; 18:268. [PMID: 31477139 PMCID: PMC6720407 DOI: 10.1186/s12936-019-2880-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2019] [Accepted: 07/11/2019] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies are increasingly being used to address a diverse range of biological and epidemiological questions. The current understanding of malaria transmission dynamics and parasite movement mainly relies on the analyses of epidemiologic data, e.g. case counts and self-reported travel history data. However, travel history data are often not routinely collected or are incomplete, lacking the necessary level of accuracy. Although genetic data from routinely collected field samples provides an unprecedented opportunity to track the spread of malaria parasites, it remains an underutilized resource for surveillance due to lack of local awareness and capacity, limited access to sensitive laboratory methods and associated computational tools and difficulty in interpreting genetic epidemiology data. In this review, the potential roles of NGS in better understanding of transmission patterns, accurately tracking parasite movement and addressing the emerging challenges of imported malaria in low transmission settings of sub-Saharan Africa are discussed. Furthermore, this review highlights the insights gained from malaria genomic research and challenges associated with integrating malaria genomics into existing surveillance tools to inform control and elimination strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sofonias K Tessema
- EPPIcenter Program, Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases, and Global Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
| | - Jaishree Raman
- Centre for Emerging Zoonotic and Parasitic Diseases, National Institute for Communicable Disease, Sandringham, Gauteng, South Africa
| | - Craig W Duffy
- Department of Infection Biology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
| | - Deus S Ishengoma
- National Institute for Medical Research, Tanga Research Centre, Tanga, Tanzania
| | | | - Bryan Greenhouse
- EPPIcenter Program, Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases, and Global Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, CA, USA
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50
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Taylor AR, Jacob PE, Neafsey DE, Buckee CO. Estimating Relatedness Between Malaria Parasites. Genetics 2019; 212:1337-1351. [PMID: 31209105 PMCID: PMC6707449 DOI: 10.1534/genetics.119.302120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2019] [Accepted: 06/03/2019] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Understanding the relatedness of individuals within or between populations is a common goal in biology. Increasingly, relatedness features in genetic epidemiology studies of pathogens. These studies are relatively new compared to those in humans and other organisms, but are important for designing interventions and understanding pathogen transmission. Only recently have researchers begun to routinely apply relatedness to apicomplexan eukaryotic malaria parasites, and to date have used a range of different approaches on an ad hoc basis. Therefore, it remains unclear how to compare different studies and which measures to use. Here, we systematically compare measures based on identity-by-state (IBS) and identity-by-descent (IBD) using a globally diverse data set of malaria parasites, Plasmodium falciparum and P. vivax, and provide marker requirements for estimates based on IBD. We formally show that the informativeness of polyallelic markers for relatedness inference is maximized when alleles are equifrequent. Estimates based on IBS are sensitive to allele frequencies, which vary across populations and by experimental design. For portability across studies, we thus recommend estimates based on IBD. To generate estimates with errors below an arbitrary threshold of 0.1, we recommend ∼100 polyallelic or 200 biallelic markers. Marker requirements are immediately applicable to haploid malaria parasites and other haploid eukaryotes. C.I.s facilitate comparison when different marker sets are used. This is the first attempt to provide rigorous analysis of the reliability of, and requirements for, relatedness inference in malaria genetic epidemiology. We hope it will provide a basis for statistically informed prospective study design and surveillance strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aimee R Taylor
- Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142
| | - Pierre E Jacob
- Department of Statistics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
| | - Daniel E Neafsey
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115
| | - Caroline O Buckee
- Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115
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