Comparative Population Structure of Plasmodium falciparum Circumsporozoite Protein NANP Repeat Lengths in Lilongwe, Malawi

Citation

Bowman, Natalie M.; Congdon, Seth; Mvalo, Tisungane; Patel, Jaymin C.; Escamilla, Veronica; Emch, Michael E.; Martinson, Francis E. A.; Hoffman, Irving F.; Meshnick, Steven R.; & Juliano, Jonathan J. (2013). Comparative Population Structure of Plasmodium falciparum Circumsporozoite Protein NANP Repeat Lengths in Lilongwe, Malawi. Scientific Reports, 3, 1990. PMCID: PMC3683670

Abstract

Humoral immunity to Plasmodium falciparum circumsporozoite protein is partly mediated by a polymorphic NANP tetra-amino acid repeat. Antibody response to these repeats is the best correlate of protective immunity to the RTS,S malaria vaccine, but few descriptions of the natural variation of these repeats exist. Using capillary electrophoresis to determine the distribution of NANP repeat size polymorphisms among 98 isolates from Lilongwe, Malawi, we characterised the diversity of P. falciparum infection by several ecological indices. Infection by multiple distinct variants was common, and 20 distinct repeat sizes were identified. Diversity of P. falciparum appeared greater in children (18 variants) than adults (12 variants). There was evidence of genetic distance between different geographic regions by Nei's Standard Genetic Distance, suggesting parasite populations vary locally. We show that P. falciparum is very diverse with respect to NANP repeat length even on a local level and that diversity appears higher in children.

URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep01990

Reference Type

Journal Article

Year Published

2013

Journal Title

Scientific Reports

Author(s)

Bowman, Natalie M.
Congdon, Seth
Mvalo, Tisungane
Patel, Jaymin C.
Escamilla, Veronica
Emch, Michael E.
Martinson, Francis E. A.
Hoffman, Irving F.
Meshnick, Steven R.
Juliano, Jonathan J.

PMCID

PMC3683670

ORCiD

Emch - 0000-0003-2642-965X