The Plasmodium bottleneck: malaria parasite losses in the mosquito vector

Smith, Ryan C.; Vega-Rodríguez, Joel; Jacobs-­Lorena, Marcelo

doi:10.1590/0074-0276130597

Cited by 200 publications

(212 citation statements)

References 178 publications

(296 reference statements)

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“…Malaria parasites have a complex lifecycle, including human and mosquito stages, with multiple clonal generations occurring within the human bloodstream and frequent bottlenecks during transmission (78). Such realities violate the assumptions of the Wright-Fisher model and complicate inference from genetic data.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Selective sweep suggests transcriptional regulation may underlie Plasmodium vivax resilience to malaria control measures in Cambodia

Parobek

Lin

Saunders

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Cambodia, in which both Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum are endemic, has been the focus of numerous malaria-control interventions, resulting in a marked decline in overall malaria incidence. Despite this decline, the number of P. vivax cases has actually increased. To understand better the factors underlying this resilience, we compared the genetic responses of the two species to recent selective pressures. We sequenced and studied the genomes of 70 P. vivax and 80 P. falciparum isolates collected between 2009 and 2013. We found that although P. falciparum has undergone population fracturing, the coendemic P. vivax population has grown undisrupted, resulting in a larger effective population size, no discernable population structure, and frequent multiclonal infections. Signatures of selection suggest recent, species-specific evolutionary differences. Particularly, in contrast to P. falciparum, P. vivax transcription factors, chromatin modifiers, and histone deacetylases have undergone strong directional selection, including a particularly strong selective sweep at an AP2 transcription factor. Together, our findings point to different population-level adaptive mechanisms used by P. vivax and P. falciparum parasites. Although population substructuring in P. falciparum has resulted in clonal outgrowths of resistant parasites, P. vivax may use a nuanced transcriptional regulatory approach to population maintenance, enabling it to preserve a larger, more diverse population better suited to facing selective threats. We conclude that transcriptional control may underlie P. vivax's resilience to malaria control measures. Novel strategies to target such processes are likely required to eradicate P. vivax and achieve malaria elimination.D uring the last decade, western Cambodia has been the focus of numerous and multimodal interventions to control the spread of artemisinin-resistant Plasmodium falciparum (1, 2). Such interventions, including increased vector control, increased surveillance, and improved access to quality artemisinin-combination therapy (ACT), would be expected to curtail coendemic Plasmodium vivax as well. However, even as P. falciparum infections in Cambodia decreased by 81% between 2009 and 2013, P. vivax cases have increased, making it the predominant species in the Mekong region (3-6). This scenario, repeated in Brazil and other areas of coendemicity, has led to growing awareness that P. vivax, although infecting the same populations and transmitted by the same mosquito vectors, will likely be the more challenging species to eradicate (6-9). In this study, we use population genomics to gain insight into the evolutionary factors underlying P. vivax's resilience to malaria control measures.Population genetic studies have previously hinted at the resilience of P. vivax populations in comparison with P. falciparum. Studies of microsatellites and highly variable antigens of sympatric P. vivax and P. falciparum populations in Southeast Asia and the Southwest Pacific have consistently shown P. viv...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Selective sweep suggests transcriptional regulation may underlie Plasmodium vivax resilience to malaria control measures in Cambodia

Parobek

Lin

Saunders

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…The ookinete traverses the midgut epithelium to reach the basal lamina, where it develops into an oocyst. The oocyst generates and releases sporozoites that invade the salivary glands of the mosquito and are injected into another human host upon the mosquito's next blood meal (12).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Isoprenoid Precursor Biosynthesis Is the Essential Metabolic Role of the Apicoplast during Gametocytogenesis in Plasmodium falciparum

et al. 2015

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The malaria parasite harbors a relict plastid called the apicoplast and its discovery opened a new avenue for drug discovery and development due to its unusual, nonmammalian metabolism. The apicoplast is essential during the asexual intraerythrocytic and hepatic stages of the parasite, and there is strong evidence supporting its essential metabolic role during the mosquito stages of the parasite. Supply of the isoprenoid building blocks isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) and dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMAPP) is the essential metabolic function of the apicoplast during the asexual intraerythrocytic stages. However, the metabolic role of the apicoplast during gametocyte development, the malaria stages transmitted to the mosquito, remains unknown. In this study, we showed that production of IPP for isoprenoid biosynthesis is the essential metabolic function of the apicoplast during gametocytogenesis, by obtaining normal gametocytes lacking the apicoplast when supplemented with IPP. When IPP supplementation was removed early in gametocytogenesis, developmental defects were observed, supporting the essential role of isoprenoids for normal gametocytogenesis. Furthermore, mosquitoes infected with gametocytes lacking the apicoplast developed fewer and smaller oocysts that failed to produce sporozoites. This finding further supports the essential role of the apicoplast in establishing a successful infection in the mosquito vector. Our study supports isoprenoid biosynthesis as a valid drug target for development of malaria transmission-blocking inhibitors.

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“…A number of components (vertebrate factors, mosquito microbiota, and mosquito immune responses) contribute to a pronounced bottleneck in malaria parasite numbers in the mosquito host (2). As such, the success of ookinete invasion and subsequent oocyst formation are critical determinants of malaria transmission.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%