Patterns of Infection and Patterns of Evolution: How a Malaria Parasite Brought “Monkeys and Man” Closer Together in the 1960s

Abstract

Abstract. In 1960, American parasitologist Don Eyles was unexpectedly infected with a malariaparasite isolated from a macaque. He and his supervisor, G. Robert Coatney of the National Institutes of Health, had started this series of experiments with the assumption that humans were not susceptible to ''monkey malaria.'' The revelation that a mosquito carrying a macaque parasite could infect a human raised a whole range of public health and biological questions. This paper follows Coatney's team of parasitologists and their subjects: from the human to the nonhuman; from the American laboratory to the forests of Malaysia; and between the domains of medical research and natural history. In the course of this research, Coatney and his colleagues inverted Koch's postulate, by which animal subjects are used to identify and understand human parasites. In contrast, Coatney's experimental protocol used human subjects to identify and understand monkey parasites. In so doing, the team repeatedly followed malaria parasites across the purported boundary separating monkeys and humans, a practical experience that created a sense of biological symmetry between these separate species. Ultimately, this led Coatney and his colleagues make evolutionary inferences, concluding ''that monkeys and man are more closely related than some of us wish to admit.'' In following monkeys, men, and malaria across biological, geographical, and disciplinary boundaries, this paper offers a new historical narrative, demonstrating that the pursuit of public health agendas can fuel the expansion of evolutionary knowledge.

Introduction to “Working Across Species”

“…These relationships were both biological (e.g., evolutionary relatedness) and health related (e.g., the likelihood of cross-infection by a particular pathogen or parasite). They were established within temperate and tropical countries, in medical laboratories, clinics, farms, forests, museums and zoological gardens, using animals that ranged from cows, sheep, and zebu, to rhinos, badgers, and monkeys (Woods and Bresalier 2014 ; Bresalier et al 2015 ; Mason Dentinger 2016 ; Woods et al 2018 ).…”

The Parasitological Pursuit: Crossing Species and Disciplinary Boundaries with Calvin W. Schwabe and the Echinococcus Tapeworm, 1956–1975

“…It also developed a range of complex perspectives on the evolution of pathogens, and the relationship between the evolution of parasites and the evolution of hosts. Méthot (2012), Mason Dentinger (2016. 76 Araujo et al (1975) pp.…”

Systems biology of malaria explored with nonhuman primates

“…A complete understanding of malaria parasite species, their biology, host–parasite interactions, and population dynamics that are essential for their survival, is still lacking. In 1971, at the time of the publication of “The Primate Malarias”, host–parasite interaction(s) was not common terminology [ 404 , 405 ]. This terminology has taken hold in the post-genome sequencing era, over the past 20 years, where “functional genomics” and the integration of big data sets have become the tools of computational biology research teams [ 406 , 407 ].…”