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Coppola Bove L, Kirkpatrick CL, Vigil-Escalera Guirado A, Botella López MC, Bos KI. A morphological and molecular approach to investigating infectious disease in early medieval Iberia: The necropolis of La Olmeda (Palencia, Spain). AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2024; 185:e24994. [PMID: 38963678 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24994] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2023] [Revised: 04/30/2024] [Accepted: 06/19/2024] [Indexed: 07/05/2024]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Here we investigate infectious diseases that potentially contribute to osteological lesions in individuals from the early medieval necropolis of La Olmeda (6th-11th c. CE) in North Iberia. MATERIALS AND METHODS We studied a minimum number of 268 individuals (33 adult females; 38 adult males, 77 unknown/indeterminate sex; and 120 non-adults), including articulated and commingled remains. Individuals with differential diagnoses suggesting chronic systemic infectious diseases were sampled and bioinformatically screened for ancient pathogen DNA. RESULTS Five non-adults (and no adults) presented skeletal evidence of chronic systemic infectious disease (1.87% of the population; 4.67% of non-adults). The preferred diagnoses for these individuals included tuberculosis, brucellosis, and malaria. Ancient DNA fragments assigned to the malaria-causing pathogen, Plasmodium spp., were identified in three of the five individuals. Observed pathology includes lesions generally consistent with malaria; however, additional lesions in two of the individuals may represent hitherto unknown variation in the skeletal manifestation of this disease or co-infection with tuberculosis or brucellosis. Additionally, spondylolysis was observed in one individual with skeletal lesions suggestive of infectious disease. CONCLUSIONS This study sheds light on the pathological landscape in Iberia during a time of great social, demographic, and environmental change. Genetic evidence challenges the hypothesis that malaria was absent from early medieval Iberia and demonstrates the value of combining osteological and archaeogenetic methods. Additionally, all of the preferred infectious diagnoses for the individuals included in this study (malaria, tuberculosis, and brucellosis) could have contributed to the febrile cases described in historical sources from this time.
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Affiliation(s)
- L Coppola Bove
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Legal Medicine, Toxicology and Physical Anthropology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
| | - C L Kirkpatrick
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Anthropology, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada
| | - A Vigil-Escalera Guirado
- Department of Humanities: History, Geography and Art, University Carlos III de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - M C Botella López
- Department of Legal Medicine, Toxicology and Physical Anthropology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
| | - K I Bos
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
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2
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Guo B, Takala-Harrison S, O’Connor TD. Benchmarking and Optimization of Methods for the Detection of Identity-By-Descent in High-Recombining Plasmodium falciparum Genomes. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.05.04.592538. [PMID: 38746392 PMCID: PMC11092787 DOI: 10.1101/2024.05.04.592538] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/16/2024]
Abstract
Genomic surveillance is crucial for identifying at-risk populations for targeted malaria control and elimination. Identity-by-descent (IBD) is increasingly being used in Plasmodium population genomics to estimate genetic relatedness, effective population size (N e ), population structure, and signals of positive selection. Despite its potential, a thorough evaluation of IBD segment detection tools for species with high recombination rates, such as P. falciparum, remains absent. Here, we perform comprehensive benchmarking of IBD callers - probabilistic (hmmIBD, isoRelate), identity-by-state-based (hap-IBD, phased IBD) and others (Refined IBD) - using population genetic simulations tailored for high recombination, and IBD quality metrics at both the IBD segment level and the IBD-based downstream inference level. Our results demonstrate that low marker density per genetic unit, related to high recombination relative to mutation, significantly compromises the accuracy of detected IBD segments. In genomes with high recombination rates resembling P. falciparum, most IBD callers exhibit high false negative rates for shorter IBD segments, which can be partially mitigated through optimization of IBD caller parameters, especially those related to marker density. Notably, IBD detected with optimized parameters allows for more accurate capture of selection signals and population structure; IBD-based N e inference is very sensitive to IBD detection errors, with IBD called from hmmIBD uniquely providing less biased estimates of N e in this context. Validation with empirical data from the MalariaGEN Pf 7 database, representing different transmission settings, corroborates these findings. We conclude that context-specific evaluation and parameter optimization are essential for accurate IBD detection in high-recombining species and recommend hmmIBD for quality-sensitive analysis, such as estimation of N e in these species. Our optimization and high-level benchmarking methods not only improve IBD segment detection in high-recombining genomes but also enhance overall genomic analysis, paving the way for more accurate genomic surveillance and targeted intervention strategies for malaria.
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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
| | - Shannon Takala-Harrison
- 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
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3
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Román-Álamo L, Avalos-Padilla Y, Bouzón-Arnáiz I, Iglesias V, Fernández-Lajo J, Monteiro JM, Rivas L, Fisa R, Riera C, Andreu D, Pintado-Grima C, Ventura S, Arce EM, Muñoz-Torrero D, Fernàndez-Busquets X. Effect of the aggregated protein dye YAT2150 on Leishmania parasite viability. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 2024; 68:e0112723. [PMID: 38349159 PMCID: PMC10916400 DOI: 10.1128/aac.01127-23] [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: 09/01/2023] [Accepted: 01/15/2024] [Indexed: 03/07/2024] Open
Abstract
The problems associated with the drugs currently used to treat leishmaniasis, including resistance, toxicity, and the high cost of some formulations, call for the urgent identification of new therapeutic agents with novel modes of action. The aggregated protein dye YAT2150 has been found to be a potent antileishmanial compound, with a half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of approximately 0.5 µM against promastigote and amastigote stages of Leishmania infantum. The encapsulation in liposomes of YAT2150 significantly improved its in vitro IC50 to 0.37 and 0.19 µM in promastigotes and amastigotes, respectively, and increased the half-maximal cytotoxic concentration in human umbilical vein endothelial cells to >50 µM. YAT2150 became strongly fluorescent when binding intracellular protein deposits in Leishmania cells. This fluorescence pattern aligns with the proposed mode of action of this drug in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, the inhibition of protein aggregation. In Leishmania major, YAT2150 rapidly reduced ATP levels, suggesting an alternative antileishmanial mechanism. To the best of our knowledge, this first-in-class compound is the only one described so far having significant activity against both Plasmodium and Leishmania, thus being a potential drug for the treatment of co-infections of both parasites.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucía Román-Álamo
- Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Hospital Clínic-Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona, Spain
- Doctoral School of Biotechnology, Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Yunuen Avalos-Padilla
- Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Hospital Clínic-Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Inés Bouzón-Arnáiz
- Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Hospital Clínic-Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Valentín Iglesias
- Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Hospital Clínic-Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona, Spain
- Institut de Biotecnologia i de Biomedicina (IBB) and Departament de Bioquímica i Biologia Molecular, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain
| | - Jorge Fernández-Lajo
- Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas Margarita Salas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Juan M. Monteiro
- Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas Margarita Salas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Luis Rivas
- Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas Margarita Salas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Roser Fisa
- Section of Parasitology Department of Biology, Health and Environment, Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Cristina Riera
- Section of Parasitology Department of Biology, Health and Environment, Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - David Andreu
- Department of Medicine and Life Sciences, Barcelona Biomedical Research Park, Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Carlos Pintado-Grima
- Institut de Biotecnologia i de Biomedicina (IBB) and Departament de Bioquímica i Biologia Molecular, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain
| | - Salvador Ventura
- Institut de Biotecnologia i de Biomedicina (IBB) and Departament de Bioquímica i Biologia Molecular, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain
| | - Elsa M. Arce
- Laboratory of Medicinal Chemistry (CSIC Associated Unit), Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences, and Institute of Biomedicine (IBUB), University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Diego Muñoz-Torrero
- Laboratory of Medicinal Chemistry (CSIC Associated Unit), Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences, and Institute of Biomedicine (IBUB), University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Xavier Fernàndez-Busquets
- Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Hospital Clínic-Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona, Spain
- Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Institute (IN2UB), University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
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4
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Francesconi V, Rizzo M, Schenone S, Carbone A, Tonelli M. State-of-the-art Review on the Antiparasitic Activity of Benzimidazolebased Derivatives: Facing Malaria, Leishmaniasis, and Trypanosomiasis. Curr Med Chem 2024; 31:1955-1982. [PMID: 37718524 PMCID: PMC11071657 DOI: 10.2174/0929867331666230915093928] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2023] [Revised: 06/19/2023] [Accepted: 08/27/2023] [Indexed: 09/19/2023]
Abstract
Protozoan parasites represent a significant risk for public health worldwide, afflicting particularly people in more vulnerable categories and cause large morbidity and heavy economic impact. Traditional drugs are limited by their toxicity, low efficacy, route of administration, and cost, reflecting their low priority in global health management. Moreover, the drug resistance phenomenon threatens the positive therapy outcome. This scenario claims the need of addressing more adequate therapies. Among the diverse strategies implemented, the medicinal chemistry efforts have also focused their attention on the benzimidazole nucleus as a promising pharmacophore for the generation of new drug candidates. Hence, the present review provides a global insight into recent progress in benzimidazole-based derivatives drug discovery against important protozoan diseases, such as malaria, leishmaniasis and trypanosomiasis. The more relevant chemical features and structure-activity relationship studies of these molecules are discussed for the purpose of paving the way towards the development of more viable drugs for the treatment of these parasitic infections.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valeria Francesconi
- Department of Pharmacy, University of Genoa, Viale Benedetto XV, 3, Genoa, 16132, Italy
| | - Marco Rizzo
- Department of Pharmacy, University of Genoa, Viale Benedetto XV, 3, Genoa, 16132, Italy
| | - Silvia Schenone
- Department of Pharmacy, University of Genoa, Viale Benedetto XV, 3, Genoa, 16132, Italy
| | - Anna Carbone
- Department of Pharmacy, University of Genoa, Viale Benedetto XV, 3, Genoa, 16132, Italy
| | - Michele Tonelli
- Department of Pharmacy, University of Genoa, Viale Benedetto XV, 3, Genoa, 16132, Italy
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5
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Stadler E, Maiga M, Friedrich L, Thathy V, Demarta-Gatsi C, Dara A, Sogore F, Striepen J, Oeuvray C, Djimdé AA, Lee MCS, Dembélé L, Fidock DA, Khoury DS, Spangenberg T. Propensity of selecting mutant parasites for the antimalarial drug cabamiquine. Nat Commun 2023; 14:5205. [PMID: 37626093 PMCID: PMC10457284 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-40974-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2022] [Accepted: 08/17/2023] [Indexed: 08/27/2023] Open
Abstract
We report an analysis of the propensity of the antimalarial agent cabamiquine, a Plasmodium-specific eukaryotic elongation factor 2 inhibitor, to select for resistant Plasmodium falciparum parasites. Through in vitro studies of laboratory strains and clinical isolates, a humanized mouse model, and volunteer infection studies, we identified resistance-associated mutations at 11 amino acid positions. Of these, six (55%) were present in more than one infection model, indicating translatability across models. Mathematical modelling suggested that resistant mutants were likely pre-existent at the time of drug exposure across studies. Here, we estimated a wide range of frequencies of resistant mutants across the different infection models, much of which can be attributed to stochastic differences resulting from experimental design choices. Structural modelling implicates binding of cabamiquine to a shallow mRNA binding site adjacent to two of the most frequently identified resistance mutations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eva Stadler
- The Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney, Kensington, NSW, 2052, Australia
| | - Mohamed Maiga
- Université des Sciences, des Techniques et des Technologies de Bamako (USTTB), Faculté de Pharmacie, Malaria Research and Training Center (MRTC), Point G, PB1805, Bamako, Mali
| | - Lukas Friedrich
- Medicinal Chemistry & Drug Design Global Research & Development, Discovery Technologies, Merck Healthcare, 64293, Darmstadt, Germany
| | - Vandana Thathy
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, 10032, USA
- Center for Malaria Therapeutics and Antimicrobial Resistance, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, 10032, USA
| | - Claudia Demarta-Gatsi
- Global Health Institute of Merck, Ares Trading S.A., (an affiliate of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany), 1262, Eysins, Switzerland
| | - Antoine Dara
- Université des Sciences, des Techniques et des Technologies de Bamako (USTTB), Faculté de Pharmacie, Malaria Research and Training Center (MRTC), Point G, PB1805, Bamako, Mali
| | - Fanta Sogore
- Université des Sciences, des Techniques et des Technologies de Bamako (USTTB), Faculté de Pharmacie, Malaria Research and Training Center (MRTC), Point G, PB1805, Bamako, Mali
| | - Josefine Striepen
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, 10032, USA
- Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, 10021, USA
| | - Claude Oeuvray
- Global Health Institute of Merck, Ares Trading S.A., (an affiliate of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany), 1262, Eysins, Switzerland
| | - Abdoulaye A Djimdé
- Université des Sciences, des Techniques et des Technologies de Bamako (USTTB), Faculté de Pharmacie, Malaria Research and Training Center (MRTC), Point G, PB1805, Bamako, Mali
| | - Marcus C S Lee
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, CB10 1SA, Hinxton, UK
- Biological Chemistry and Drug Discovery, School of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, DD1 4HN, Scotland, UK
| | - Laurent Dembélé
- Université des Sciences, des Techniques et des Technologies de Bamako (USTTB), Faculté de Pharmacie, Malaria Research and Training Center (MRTC), Point G, PB1805, Bamako, Mali.
| | - David A Fidock
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, 10032, USA.
- Center for Malaria Therapeutics and Antimicrobial Resistance, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, 10032, USA.
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, 10032, USA.
| | - David S Khoury
- The Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney, Kensington, NSW, 2052, Australia.
| | - Thomas Spangenberg
- Global Health Institute of Merck, Ares Trading S.A., (an affiliate of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany), 1262, Eysins, Switzerland.
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6
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Niaré K, Greenhouse B, Bailey JA. An optimized GATK4 pipeline for Plasmodium falciparum whole genome sequencing variant calling and analysis. Malar J 2023; 22:207. [PMID: 37420214 PMCID: PMC10327343 DOI: 10.1186/s12936-023-04632-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2023] [Accepted: 06/21/2023] [Indexed: 07/09/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Accurate variant calls from whole genome sequencing (WGS) of Plasmodium falciparum infections are crucial in malaria population genomics. Here a falciparum variant calling pipeline based on GATK version 4 (GATK4) was optimized and applied to 6626 public Illumina WGS samples. METHODS Control WGS and accurate PacBio assemblies of 10 laboratory strains were leveraged to optimize parameters that control the heterozygosity, local assembly region size, ploidy, mapping and base quality in both GATK HaplotypeCaller and GenotypeGVCFs. From these controls, a high-quality training dataset was generated to recalibrate the raw variant data. RESULTS On current high-quality samples (read length = 250 bp, insert size = 405-524 bp), the optimized pipeline shows improved sensitivity (86.6 ± 1.7% for SNPs and 82.2 ± 5.9% for indels) compared to the default GATK4 pipeline (77.7 ± 1.3% for SNPs; and 73.1 ± 5.1% for indels, adjusted P < 0.001) and previous variant calling with GATK version 3 (GATK3, 70.3 ± 3.0% for SNPs and 59.7 ± 5.8% for indels, adjusted P < 0.001). Its sensitivity on simulated mixed infection samples (80.8 ± 6.1% for SNPs and 78.3 ± 5.1% for indels) was again improved relative to default GATK4 (68.8 ± 6.0% for SNPs and 38.9 ± 0.7% for indels, adjusted, adjusted P < 0.001). Precision was high and comparable across all pipelines on each type of data tested. The resulting combination of high-quality SNPs and indels increases the resolution of local population population structure detection in sub-Saharan Africa. Finally, increasing ploidy improves the detection of drug resistance mutations and estimation of complexity of infection. CONCLUSIONS Overall, this study provides an optimized falciparum GATK4 pipeline resource for variant calling which should help improve genomic studies of malaria.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karamoko Niaré
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.
- Center for Computational Molecular Biology, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.
| | - Bryan Greenhouse
- EPPIcenter Program, Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases, and Global Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Jeffrey A Bailey
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.
- Center for Computational Molecular Biology, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.
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7
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Kümpornsin K, Kochakarn T, Yeo T, Okombo J, Luth MR, Hoshizaki J, Rawat M, Pearson RD, Schindler KA, Mok S, Park H, Uhlemann AC, Jana GP, Maity BC, Laleu B, Chenu E, Duffy J, Moliner Cubel S, Franco V, Gomez-Lorenzo MG, Gamo FJ, Winzeler EA, Fidock DA, Chookajorn T, Lee MCS. Generation of a mutator parasite to drive resistome discovery in Plasmodium falciparum. Nat Commun 2023; 14:3059. [PMID: 37244916 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-38774-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2022] [Accepted: 05/12/2023] [Indexed: 05/29/2023] Open
Abstract
In vitro evolution of drug resistance is a powerful approach for identifying antimalarial targets, however, key obstacles to eliciting resistance are the parasite inoculum size and mutation rate. Here we sought to increase parasite genetic diversity to potentiate resistance selections by editing catalytic residues of Plasmodium falciparum DNA polymerase δ. Mutation accumulation assays reveal a ~5-8 fold elevation in the mutation rate, with an increase of 13-28 fold in drug-pressured lines. Upon challenge with the spiroindolone PfATP4-inhibitor KAE609, high-level resistance is obtained more rapidly and at lower inocula than wild-type parasites. Selections also yield mutants with resistance to an "irresistible" compound, MMV665794 that failed to yield resistance with other strains. We validate mutations in a previously uncharacterised gene, PF3D7_1359900, which we term quinoxaline resistance protein (QRP1), as causal for resistance to MMV665794 and a panel of quinoxaline analogues. The increased genetic repertoire available to this "mutator" parasite can be leveraged to drive P. falciparum resistome discovery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Krittikorn Kümpornsin
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, UK
- Calibr, Division of the Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Theerarat Kochakarn
- The Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden and Department of Molecular Biology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
| | - Tomas Yeo
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - John Okombo
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Madeline R Luth
- Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | | | - Mukul Rawat
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, UK
| | | | - Kyra A Schindler
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Sachel Mok
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
- Center for Malaria Therapeutics and Antimicrobial Resistance, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Heekuk Park
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Anne-Catrin Uhlemann
- Center for Malaria Therapeutics and Antimicrobial Resistance, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Gouranga P Jana
- TCG Lifesciences Private Limited, Salt-lake Electronics Complex, Kolkata, India
| | - Bikash C Maity
- TCG Lifesciences Private Limited, Salt-lake Electronics Complex, Kolkata, India
| | - Benoît Laleu
- Medicines for Malaria Venture, International Centre Cointrin, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Elodie Chenu
- Medicines for Malaria Venture, International Centre Cointrin, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - James Duffy
- Medicines for Malaria Venture, International Centre Cointrin, Geneva, Switzerland
| | | | - Virginia Franco
- Global Health Medicines R&D, GlaxoSmithKline, Tres Cantos, Madrid, Spain
| | | | | | - Elizabeth A Winzeler
- Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - David A Fidock
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
- Center for Malaria Therapeutics and Antimicrobial Resistance, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Thanat Chookajorn
- The Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden and Department of Molecular Biology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
- Genomics and Evolutionary Medicine Unit, Centre of Excellence in Malaria Research, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Marcus C S Lee
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, UK.
- Biological Chemistry and Drug Discovery, Wellcome Centre for Anti-Infectives Research, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK.
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8
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Claessens A, Stewart LB, Drury E, Ahouidi AD, Amambua-Ngwa A, Diakite M, Kwiatkowski DP, Awandare GA, Conway DJ. Genomic variation during culture adaptation of genetically complex Plasmodium falciparum clinical isolates. Microb Genom 2023; 9:mgen001009. [PMID: 37204422 PMCID: PMC10272863 DOI: 10.1099/mgen.0.001009] [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: 09/14/2022] [Accepted: 03/06/2023] [Indexed: 05/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Experimental studies on the biology of malaria parasites have mostly been based on laboratory-adapted lines, but there is limited understanding of how these may differ from parasites in natural infections. Loss-of-function mutants have previously been shown to emerge during culture of some Plasmodium falciparum clinical isolates in analyses focusing on single-genotype infections. The present study included a broader array of isolates, mostly representing multiple-genotype infections, which are more typical in areas where malaria is highly endemic. Genome sequence data from multiple time points over several months of culture adaptation of 28 West African isolates were analysed, including previously available sequences along with new genome sequences from additional isolates and time points. Some genetically complex isolates eventually became fixed over time to single surviving genotypes in culture, whereas others retained diversity, although proportions of genotypes varied over time. Drug resistance allele frequencies did not show overall directional changes, suggesting that resistance-associated costs are not the main causes of fitness differences among parasites in culture. Loss-of-function mutants emerged during culture in several of the multiple-genotype isolates, affecting genes (including AP2-HS, EPAC and SRPK1) for which loss-of-function mutants were previously seen to emerge in single-genotype isolates. Parasite clones were derived by limiting dilution from six of the isolates, and sequencing identified de novo variants not detected in the bulk isolate sequences. Interestingly, several of these were nonsense mutants and frameshifts disrupting the coding sequence of EPAC, the gene with the largest number of independent nonsense mutants previously identified in laboratory-adapted lines. Analysis of genomic identity by descent to explore relatedness among clones revealed co-occurring non-identical sibling parasites, illustrative of the natural genetic structure within endemic populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antoine Claessens
- LPHI, MIVEGEC, INSERM, CNRS, IRD, University of Montpellier, France
- Department of Infection Biology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel St, London, WC1E 7HT, UK
- MRC Unit The Gambia at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Banjul, The Gambia
| | - Lindsay B. Stewart
- Department of Infection Biology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel St, London, WC1E 7HT, UK
| | | | | | - Alfred Amambua-Ngwa
- MRC Unit The Gambia at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Banjul, The Gambia
| | - Mahamadou Diakite
- Malaria Research and Training Center, University of Bamako, Bamako, Mali
| | | | - Gordon A. Awandare
- West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens, Department of Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana
| | - David J. Conway
- Department of Infection Biology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel St, London, WC1E 7HT, UK
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9
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Honma H, Takahashi N, Arisue N, Sugishita T. Analysis of genome instability and implications for the consequent phenotype in Plasmodium falciparum containing mutated MSH2-1 (P513T). Microb Genom 2023; 9. [PMID: 37083479 DOI: 10.1099/mgen.0.001003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Malarial parasites exhibit extensive genomic plasticity, which induces the antigen diversification and the development of antimalarial drug resistance. Only a few studies have examined the genome maintenance mechanisms of parasites. The study aimed at elucidating the impact of a mutation in a DNA mismatch repair gene on genome stability by maintaining the mutant and wild-type parasites through serial in vitro cultures for approximately 400 days and analysing the subsequent spontaneous mutations. A P513T mutant of the DNA mismatch repair protein PfMSH2-1 from Plasmodium falciparum 3D7 was created. The mutation did not influence the base substitution rate but significantly increased the insertion/deletion (indel) mutation rate in short tandem repeats (STRs) and minisatellite loci. STR mutability was affected by allele size, genomic category and certain repeat motifs. In the mutants, significant telomere healing and homologous recombination at chromosomal ends caused extensive gene loss and generation of chimeric genes, resulting in large-scale chromosomal alteration. Additionally, the mutant showed increased tolerance to N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine, suggesting that PfMSH2-1 was involved in recognizing DNA methylation damage. This work provides valuable insights into the role of PfMSH2-1 in genome stability and demonstrates that the genomic destabilization caused by its dysfunction may lead to antigen diversification.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hajime Honma
- Section of Global Health, Division of Public Health, Department of Hygiene and Public Health, Tokyo Women's Medical University, 8-1 Kawada-cho, Shinjuku, Tokyo 162-8666, Japan
- Department of International Affairs and Tropical Medicine, Tokyo Women's Medical University, 8-1 Kawada-cho, Shinjuku, Tokyo 162-8666, Japan
| | - Nobuyuki Takahashi
- Section of Global Health, Division of Public Health, Department of Hygiene and Public Health, Tokyo Women's Medical University, 8-1 Kawada-cho, Shinjuku, Tokyo 162-8666, Japan
- Department of International Affairs and Tropical Medicine, Tokyo Women's Medical University, 8-1 Kawada-cho, Shinjuku, Tokyo 162-8666, Japan
| | - Nobuko Arisue
- Section of Global Health, Division of Public Health, Department of Hygiene and Public Health, Tokyo Women's Medical University, 8-1 Kawada-cho, Shinjuku, Tokyo 162-8666, Japan
| | - Tomohiko Sugishita
- Section of Global Health, Division of Public Health, Department of Hygiene and Public Health, Tokyo Women's Medical University, 8-1 Kawada-cho, Shinjuku, Tokyo 162-8666, Japan
- Department of International Affairs and Tropical Medicine, Tokyo Women's Medical University, 8-1 Kawada-cho, Shinjuku, Tokyo 162-8666, Japan
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10
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An JQ, Yu SH, Wei SJ, Zhang HP, Shi YC, Zhao QY, Fu ZY, Yang P. The Complete Mitochondrial Genome of the Chinese White Wax Scale Insect, Ericerus pela Chavannes (Hemiptera: Coccidae), with Novel Gene Arrangement and Truncated tRNA Genes. INSECTS 2023; 14:290. [PMID: 36975975 PMCID: PMC10055984 DOI: 10.3390/insects14030290] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2023] [Revised: 03/13/2023] [Accepted: 03/14/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
The Chinese white wax scale insect, Ericerus pela Chavannes (Hemiptera: Coccidae), is one of the scale insects with great economic value and has been dispersed and reared in China for over one thousand years. Its mitochondrial genome provides essential information for the molecular identification and genetic study of this species. We assembled the complete mitochondrial genome of E. pela based on PacBio sequencing and analyzed its genomic features. The genome was 17,766 bp in length with 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNAs, and two rRNA genes. The analysis results showed E. pela had significant gene rearrangements involving tRNAs compared with other Coccoidea species. Furthermore, E. pela's nine tRNAs were identified to have obvious truncated structures. The phylogenetic tree compiled of the species showed a long branch of the Coccoidea lineage, which indicated the high evolutionary rate in this group. Our study revealed the mitochondrial characteristics of E. pela and enriched the mitochondrial genetic information on Coccoidea species. It also determined the occurrence of gene rearrangement for the species in this superfamily.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jia-Qi An
- Institute of Highland Forest Science, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Kunming 650224, China
- College of Biology and Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
| | - Shu-Hui Yu
- College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Kunming University, Kunming 650214, China
| | - Shu-Jun Wei
- Institute of Plant Protection, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China
| | - Hong-Ping Zhang
- College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Kunming University, Kunming 650214, China
| | - Yuan-Chong Shi
- Institute of Highland Forest Science, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Kunming 650224, China
| | - Qiu-Yu Zhao
- College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Kunming University, Kunming 650214, China
| | - Zuo-Yi Fu
- Institute of Highland Forest Science, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Kunming 650224, China
| | - Pu Yang
- Institute of Highland Forest Science, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Kunming 650224, China
- Key Laboratory of Breeding and Utilization of Resource Insects of National Forestry and Grassland Administration, Kunming 650224, China
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11
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Gill SE, Chain FJJ. Very Low Rates of Spontaneous Gene Deletions and Gene Duplications in Dictyostelium discoideum. J Mol Evol 2023; 91:24-32. [PMID: 36484794 PMCID: PMC9849192 DOI: 10.1007/s00239-022-10081-1] [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: 09/17/2022] [Accepted: 12/02/2022] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
The study of spontaneous mutation rates has revealed a wide range of heritable point mutation rates across species, but there are comparatively few estimates for large-scale deletion and duplication rates. The handful of studies that have directly calculated spontaneous rates of deletion and duplication using mutation accumulation lines have estimated that genes are duplicated and deleted at orders of magnitude greater rates than the spontaneous point mutation rate. In our study, we tested whether spontaneous gene deletion and gene duplication rates are also high in Dictyostelium discoideum, a eukaryote with among the lowest point mutation rates (2.5 × 10-11 per site per generation) and an AT-rich genome (GC content of 22%). We calculated mutation rates of gene deletions and duplications using whole-genome sequencing data originating from a mutation accumulation experiment and determined the association between the copy number mutations and GC content. Overall, we estimated an average of 3.93 × 10-8 gene deletions and 1.18 × 10-8 gene duplications per gene per generation. While orders of magnitude greater than their point mutation rate, these rates are much lower compared to gene deletion and duplication rates estimated from mutation accumulation lines in other organisms (that are on the order of ~ 10-6 per gene/generation). The deletions and duplications were enriched in regions that were AT-rich even compared to the genomic background, in contrast to our expectations if low GC content was contributing to low mutation rates. The low deletion and duplication mutation rates in D. discoideum compared to other eukaryotes mirror their low point mutation rates, supporting previous work suggesting that this organism has high replication fidelity and effective molecular machinery to avoid the accumulation of mutations in their genome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shelbi E Gill
- Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA, 01854-2874, USA.
| | - Frédéric J J Chain
- Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA, 01854-2874, USA.
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12
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Cruz Camacho A, Kiper E, Oren S, Zaharoni N, Nir N, Soffer N, Noy Y, Ben David B, Rivkin A, Rotkopf R, Michael D, Carvalho TG, Regev-Rudzki N. High-throughput analysis of the transcriptional patterns of sexual genes in malaria. Parasit Vectors 2023; 16:14. [PMID: 36639683 PMCID: PMC9838061 DOI: 10.1186/s13071-022-05624-w] [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] [Received: 05/09/2022] [Accepted: 12/17/2022] [Indexed: 01/15/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) is the leading protozoan causing malaria, the most devastating parasitic disease. To ensure transmission, a small subset of Pf parasites differentiate into the sexual forms (gametocytes). Since the abundance of these essential parasitic forms is extremely low within the human host, little is currently known about the molecular regulation of their sexual differentiation, highlighting the need to develop tools to investigate Pf gene expression during this fundamental mechanism. METHODS We developed a high-throughput quantitative Reverse-Transcription PCR (RT-qPCR) platform to robustly monitor Pf transcriptional patterns, in particular, systematically profiling the transcriptional pattern of a large panel of gametocyte-related genes (GRG). Initially, we evaluated the technical performance of the systematic RT-qPCR platform to ensure it complies with the accepted quality standards for: (i) RNA extraction, (ii) cDNA synthesis and (iii) evaluation of gene expression through RT-qPCR. We then used this approach to monitor alterations in gene expression of a panel of GRG upon treatment with gametocytogenesis regulators. RESULTS We thoroughly elucidated GRG expression profiles under treatment with the antimalarial drug dihydroartemisinin (DHA) or the metabolite choline over the course of a Pf blood cycle (48 h). We demonstrate that both significantly alter the expression pattern of PfAP2-G, the gametocytogenesis master regulator. However, they also markedly modify the developmental rate of the parasites and thus might bias the mRNA expression. Additionally, we screened the effect of the metabolites lactate and kynurenic acid, abundant in severe malaria, as potential regulators of gametocytogenesis. CONCLUSIONS Our data demonstrate that the high-throughput RT-qPCR method enables studying the immediate transcriptional response initiating gametocytogenesis of the parasites from a very low volume of malaria-infected RBC samples. The obtained data expand the current knowledge of the initial alterations in mRNA profiles of GRG upon treatment with reported regulators. In addition, using this method emphasizes that asexual parasite stage composition is a crucial element that must be considered when interpreting changes in GRG expression by RT-qPCR, specifically when screening for novel compounds that could regulate Pf sexual differentiation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abel Cruz Camacho
- grid.13992.300000 0004 0604 7563Faculty of Biochemistry, Department of Biomolecular Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, 7610001 Rehovot, Israel
| | - Edo Kiper
- grid.13992.300000 0004 0604 7563Faculty of Biochemistry, Department of Biomolecular Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, 7610001 Rehovot, Israel
| | - Sonia Oren
- grid.13992.300000 0004 0604 7563Faculty of Biochemistry, Department of Biomolecular Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, 7610001 Rehovot, Israel
| | - Nir Zaharoni
- grid.13992.300000 0004 0604 7563Faculty of Biochemistry, Department of Biomolecular Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, 7610001 Rehovot, Israel
| | - Netta Nir
- grid.13992.300000 0004 0604 7563Faculty of Biochemistry, Department of Biomolecular Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, 7610001 Rehovot, Israel
| | - Noam Soffer
- grid.13992.300000 0004 0604 7563Faculty of Biochemistry, Department of Biomolecular Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, 7610001 Rehovot, Israel
| | - Yael Noy
- grid.13992.300000 0004 0604 7563Faculty of Biochemistry, Department of Biomolecular Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, 7610001 Rehovot, Israel
| | - Bar Ben David
- grid.13992.300000 0004 0604 7563Faculty of Biochemistry, Department of Biomolecular Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, 7610001 Rehovot, Israel
| | - Anna Rivkin
- grid.13992.300000 0004 0604 7563Faculty of Biochemistry, Department of Biomolecular Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, 7610001 Rehovot, Israel
| | - Ron Rotkopf
- grid.13992.300000 0004 0604 7563Department of Life Sciences Core Facilities, Weizmann Institute of Science, 7610001 Rehovot, Israel
| | - Dan Michael
- grid.13992.300000 0004 0604 7563Feinberg Graduate School, Weizmann Institute of Science, 7610001 Rehovot, Israel
| | - Teresa G. Carvalho
- grid.1018.80000 0001 2342 0938Department of Microbiology, Anatomy, Physiology and Pharmacology, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC 3086 Australia
| | - Neta Regev-Rudzki
- grid.13992.300000 0004 0604 7563Faculty of Biochemistry, Department of Biomolecular Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, 7610001 Rehovot, Israel
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13
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Mensah BA, Akyea-Bobi NE, Ghansah A. Genomic approaches for monitoring transmission dynamics of malaria: A case for malaria molecular surveillance in Sub-Saharan Africa. FRONTIERS IN EPIDEMIOLOGY 2022; 2:939291. [PMID: 38455324 PMCID: PMC10911004 DOI: 10.3389/fepid.2022.939291] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2022] [Accepted: 10/10/2022] [Indexed: 03/09/2024]
Abstract
Transmission dynamics is an important indicator for malaria control and elimination. As we move closer to eliminating malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa (sSA), transmission indices with higher resolution (genomic approaches) will complement our current measurements of transmission. Most of the present programmatic knowledge of malaria transmission patterns are derived from assessments of epidemiologic and clinical data, such as case counts, parasitological estimates of parasite prevalence, and Entomological Inoculation Rates (EIR). However, to eliminate malaria from endemic areas, we need to track changes in the parasite population and how they will impact transmission. This is made possible through the evolving field of genomics and genetics, as well as the development of tools for more in-depth studies on the diversity of parasites and the complexity of infections, among other topics. If malaria elimination is to be achieved globally, country-specific elimination activities should be supported by parasite genomic data from regularly collected blood samples for diagnosis, surveillance and possibly from other programmatic interventions. This presents a unique opportunity to track the spread of malaria parasites and shed additional light on intervention efficacy. In this review, various genetic techniques are highlighted along with their significance for an enhanced understanding of transmission patterns in distinct topological settings throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. The importance of these methods and their limitations in malaria surveillance to guide control and elimination strategies, are explored.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benedicta A. Mensah
- Department of Epidemiology, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana
- Department of Parasitology, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana
| | - Nukunu E. Akyea-Bobi
- Department of Parasitology, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana
| | - Anita Ghansah
- Department of Parasitology, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana
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14
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Ishizaki T, Hernandez S, Paoletta MS, Sanderson T, Bushell ES. CRISPR/Cas9 and genetic screens in malaria parasites: small genomes, big impact. Biochem Soc Trans 2022; 50:1069-1079. [PMID: 35621119 PMCID: PMC9246331 DOI: 10.1042/bst20210281] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2022] [Revised: 04/20/2022] [Accepted: 04/29/2022] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
The ∼30 Mb genomes of the Plasmodium parasites that cause malaria each encode ∼5000 genes, but the functions of the majority remain unknown. This is due to a paucity of functional annotation from sequence homology, which is compounded by low genetic tractability compared with many model organisms. In recent years technical breakthroughs have made forward and reverse genome-scale screens in Plasmodium possible. Furthermore, the adaptation of Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) and CRISPR-Associated protein 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) technology has dramatically improved gene editing efficiency at the single gene level. Here, we review the arrival of genetic screens in malaria parasites to analyse parasite gene function at a genome-scale and their impact on understanding parasite biology. CRISPR/Cas9 screens, which have revolutionised human and model organism research, have not yet been implemented in malaria parasites due to the need for more complex CRISPR/Cas9 gene targeting vector libraries. We therefore introduce the reader to CRISPR-based screens in the related apicomplexan Toxoplasma gondii and discuss how these approaches could be adapted to develop CRISPR/Cas9 based genome-scale genetic screens in malaria parasites. Moreover, since more than half of Plasmodium genes are required for normal asexual blood-stage reproduction, and cannot be targeted using knockout methods, we discuss how CRISPR/Cas9 could be used to scale up conditional gene knockdown approaches to systematically assign function to essential genes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Takahiro Ishizaki
- Department of Molecular Biology, Umeå University, 901 87 Umeå, Sweden
- The Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS), Umeå, Sweden
| | - Sophia Hernandez
- Department of Molecular Biology, Umeå University, 901 87 Umeå, Sweden
- The Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS), Umeå, Sweden
| | - Martina S. Paoletta
- Department of Molecular Biology, Umeå University, 901 87 Umeå, Sweden
- The Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS), Umeå, Sweden
- Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular (IABIMO), INTA - CONICET, Hurlingham, Argentina
| | - Theo Sanderson
- Francis Crick Institute, 1 Midland Rd, London NW1 1AT, U.K
| | - Ellen S.C. Bushell
- Department of Molecular Biology, Umeå University, 901 87 Umeå, Sweden
- The Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS), Umeå, Sweden
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15
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Williams FN, Scaglione KM. Insights on Microsatellite Characteristics, Evolution, and Function From the Social Amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:886837. [PMID: 35769695 PMCID: PMC9234386 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.886837] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2022] [Accepted: 05/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Microsatellites are repetitive sequences commonly found in the genomes of higher organisms. These repetitive sequences are prone to expansion or contraction, and when microsatellite expansion occurs in the regulatory or coding regions of genes this can result in a number of diseases including many neurodegenerative diseases. Unlike in humans and other organisms, the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum contains an unusually high number of microsatellites. Intriguingly, many of these microsatellites fall within the coding region of genes, resulting in nearly 10,000 homopolymeric repeat proteins within the Dictyostelium proteome. Surprisingly, among the most common of these repeats are polyglutamine repeats, a type of repeat that causes a class of nine neurodegenerative diseases in humans. In this minireview, we summarize what is currently known about homopolymeric repeats and microsatellites in Dictyostelium discoideum and discuss the potential utility of Dictyostelium for identifying novel mechanisms that utilize and regulate regions of repetitive DNA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Felicia N. Williams
- Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University, Durham, NC, United States
| | - K. Matthew Scaglione
- Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University, Durham, NC, United States
- Department of Neurology, Duke University, Durham, NC, United States
- Duke Center for Neurodegeneration and Neurotherapeutics, Duke University, Durham, NC, United States
- *Correspondence: K. Matthew Scaglione,
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16
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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: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [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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Abstract
Almost 20 years have passed since the first reference genome assemblies were published for Plasmodium falciparum, the deadliest malaria parasite, and Anopheles gambiae, the most important mosquito vector of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa. Reference genomes now exist for all human malaria parasites and nearly half of the ~40 important vectors around the world. As a foundation for genetic diversity studies, these reference genomes have helped advance our understanding of basic disease biology and drug and insecticide resistance, and have informed vaccine development efforts. Population genomic data are increasingly being used to guide our understanding of malaria epidemiology, for example by assessing connectivity between populations and the efficacy of parasite and vector interventions. The potential value of these applications to malaria control strategies, together with the increasing diversity of genomic data types and contexts in which data are being generated, raise both opportunities and challenges in the field. This Review discusses advances in malaria genomics and explores how population genomic data could be harnessed to further support global disease control efforts.
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Affiliation(s)
- 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, Cambridge, MA, USA.
| | - Aimee R Taylor
- Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Bronwyn L MacInnis
- Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA, USA.
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18
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Wang W, Zhang H, Constant J, Bartlett CR, Qin D. Characterization, Comparative Analysis and Phylogenetic Implications of Mitogenomes of Fulgoridae (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha). Genes (Basel) 2021; 12:genes12081185. [PMID: 34440359 PMCID: PMC8394797 DOI: 10.3390/genes12081185] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2021] [Revised: 07/22/2021] [Accepted: 07/26/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
The complete mitogenomes of nine fulgorid species were sequenced and annotated to explore their mitogenome diversity and the phylogenetics of Fulgoridae. All species are from China and belong to five genera: Dichoptera Spinola, 1839 (Dichoptera sp.); Neoalcathous Wang and Huang, 1989 (Neoalcathous huangshanana Wang and Huang, 1989); Limois Stål, 1863 (Limois sp.); Penthicodes Blanchard, 1840 (Penthicodes atomaria (Weber, 1801), Penthicodes caja (Walker, 1851), Penthicodes variegata (Guérin-Méneville, 1829)); Pyrops Spinola, 1839 (Pyrops clavatus (Westwood, 1839), Pyrops lathburii (Kirby, 1818), Pyrops spinolae (Westwood, 1842)). The nine mitogenomes were 15,803 to 16,510 bp in length with 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNA genes (tRNAs), 2 ribosomal RNA genes (rRNAs) and a control region (A + T-rich region). Combined with previously reported fulgorid mitogenomes, all PCGs initiate with either the standard start codon of ATN or the nonstandard GTG. The TAA codon was used for termination more often than the TAG codon and the incomplete T codon. The nad1 and nad4 genes varied in length within the same genus. A high percentage of F residues were found in the nad4 and nad5 genes of all fulgorid mitogenomes. The DHU stem of trnV was absent in the mitogenomes of all fulgorids sequenced except Dichoptera sp. Moreover, in most fulgorid mitogenomes, the trnL2, trnR, and trnT genes had an unpaired base in the aminoacyl stem and trnS1 had an unpaired base in the anticodon stem. The similar tandem repeat regions of the control region were found in the same genus. Phylogenetic analyses were conducted based on 13 PCGs and two rRNA genes from 53 species of Fulgoroidea and seven outgroups. The Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood trees had a similar topological structure. The major results show that Fulgoroidea was divided into two groups: Delphacidae and ((Achilidae + (Lophopidae + (Issidae + (Flatidae + Ricaniidae)))) + Fulgoridae). Furthermore, the monophyly of Fulgoridae was robustly supported, and Aphaeninae was divided into Aphaenini and Pyropsini, which includes Neoalcathous, Pyrops, Datua Schmidt, 1911, and Saiva Distant, 1906. The genus Limois is recovered in the Aphaeninae, and the Limoisini needs further confirmation; Dichoptera sp. was the earliest branch in the Fulgoridae.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenqian Wang
- Key Laboratory of Plant Protection Resources and Pest Management of the Ministry of Education, Entomological Museum, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Xianyang 712100, China; (W.W.); (H.Z.)
| | - Huan Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Plant Protection Resources and Pest Management of the Ministry of Education, Entomological Museum, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Xianyang 712100, China; (W.W.); (H.Z.)
| | - Jérôme Constant
- O.D. Phylogeny and Taxonomy, Entomology, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Vautier Street 29, 1000 Brussels, Belgium;
| | - Charles R. Bartlett
- Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology, University of Delaware, 250 Townsend Hall, 531 S. College Ave., Newark, DE 9716-2160, USA;
| | - Daozheng Qin
- Key Laboratory of Plant Protection Resources and Pest Management of the Ministry of Education, Entomological Museum, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Xianyang 712100, China; (W.W.); (H.Z.)
- Correspondence:
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19
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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] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.0] [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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20
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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] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.7] [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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21
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Cappannini A, Forcelloni S, Giansanti A. Evolutionary pressures and codon bias in low complexity regions of plasmodia. Genetica 2021; 149:217-237. [PMID: 34254217 DOI: 10.1007/s10709-021-00126-6] [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: 09/04/2020] [Accepted: 06/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
The biological meaning of low complexity regions in the proteins of Plasmodium species is a topic of discussion in evolutionary biology. There is a debate between selectionists and neutralists, who either attribute or do not attribute an effect of low-complexity regions on the fitness of these parasites, respectively. In this work, we comparatively study 22 Plasmodium species to understand whether their low complexity regions undergo a neutral or, rather, a selective and species-dependent evolution. The focus is on the connection between the codon repertoire of the genetic coding sequences and the occurrence of low complexity regions in the corresponding proteins. The first part of the work concerns the correlation between the length of plasmodial proteins and their propensity at embedding low complexity regions. Relative synonymous codon usage, entropy, and other indicators reveal that the incidence of low complexity regions and their codon bias is species-specific and subject to selective evolutionary pressure. We also observed that protein length, a relaxed selective pressure, and a broad repertoire of codons in proteins, are strongly correlated with the occurrence of low complexity regions. Overall, it seems plausible that the codon bias of low-complexity regions contributes to functional innovation and codon bias enhancement of proteins on which Plasmodium species rest as successful evolutionary parasites.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Cappannini
- Department of Physics, Sapienza, University of Rome, P.le A. Moro 5, 00185, Roma, Italy.
| | - Sergio Forcelloni
- Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, 82152, Martinsried, Germany.,Department of Chemistry, Technical University of Munich, 85748, Garching, Germany
| | - Andrea Giansanti
- Department of Physics, Sapienza, University of Rome, P.le A. Moro 5, 00185, Roma, Italy.,Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, INFN, Roma1 section. 00185, Roma, Italy
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22
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Stability across the Whole Nuclear Genome in the Presence and Absence of DNA Mismatch Repair. Cells 2021; 10:cells10051224. [PMID: 34067668 PMCID: PMC8156620 DOI: 10.3390/cells10051224] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2021] [Revised: 05/13/2021] [Accepted: 05/14/2021] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
We describe the contribution of DNA mismatch repair (MMR) to the stability of the eukaryotic nuclear genome as determined by whole-genome sequencing. To date, wild-type nuclear genome mutation rates are known for over 40 eukaryotic species, while measurements in mismatch repair-defective organisms are fewer in number and are concentrated on Saccharomyces cerevisiae and human tumors. Well-studied organisms include Drosophila melanogaster and Mus musculus, while less genetically tractable species include great apes and long-lived trees. A variety of techniques have been developed to gather mutation rates, either per generation or per cell division. Generational rates are described through whole-organism mutation accumulation experiments and through offspring–parent sequencing, or they have been identified by descent. Rates per somatic cell division have been estimated from cell line mutation accumulation experiments, from systemic variant allele frequencies, and from widely spaced samples with known cell divisions per unit of tissue growth. The latter methods are also used to estimate generational mutation rates for large organisms that lack dedicated germlines, such as trees and hyphal fungi. Mechanistic studies involving genetic manipulation of MMR genes prior to mutation rate determination are thus far confined to yeast, Arabidopsis thaliana, Caenorhabditis elegans, and one chicken cell line. A great deal of work in wild-type organisms has begun to establish a sound baseline, but far more work is needed to uncover the variety of MMR across eukaryotes. Nonetheless, the few MMR studies reported to date indicate that MMR contributes 100-fold or more to genome stability, and they have uncovered insights that would have been impossible to obtain using reporter gene assays.
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23
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Liu S, Huckaby AC, Brown AC, Moore CC, Burbulis I, McConnell MJ, Güler JL. Single-cell sequencing of the small and AT-skewed genome of malaria parasites. Genome Med 2021; 13:75. [PMID: 33947449 PMCID: PMC8094492 DOI: 10.1186/s13073-021-00889-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2020] [Accepted: 04/17/2021] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Single-cell genomics is a rapidly advancing field; however, most techniques are designed for mammalian cells. We present a single-cell sequencing pipeline for an intracellular parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, with a small genome of extreme base content. Through optimization of a quasi-linear amplification method, we target the parasite genome over contaminants and generate coverage levels allowing detection of minor genetic variants. This work, as well as efforts that build on these findings, will enable detection of parasite heterogeneity contributing to P. falciparum adaptation. Furthermore, this study provides a framework for optimizing single-cell amplification and variant analysis in challenging genomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shiwei Liu
- Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
| | - Adam C Huckaby
- Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
| | - Audrey C Brown
- Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
| | - Christopher C Moore
- Division of Infectious Diseases and International Health, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
| | - Ian Burbulis
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA, USA
- Escuela de Medicina, Universidad San Sebastian, Puerto Montt, Chile
| | - Michael J McConnell
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA, USA
- Current address: Lieber Institute for Brain Development, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Jennifer L Güler
- Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
- Division of Infectious Diseases and International Health, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
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24
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Structural insights into histone chaperone Asf1 and its characterization from Plasmodium falciparum. Biochem J 2021; 478:1117-1136. [PMID: 33501928 DOI: 10.1042/bcj20200891] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2020] [Revised: 01/24/2021] [Accepted: 01/27/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Asf1 is a highly conserved histone chaperone that regulates tightly coupled nucleosome assembly/disassembly process. We observed that Plasmodium falciparum Asf1 (PfAsf1) is ubiquitously expressed in different stages of the life cycle of the parasite. To gain further insight into its biological activity, we solved the structure of N-terminal histone chaperone domain of PfAsf1 (1-159 amino acids) by X-ray crystallography to a resolution of 2.4 Å. The structure is composed of two beta-sheet to form a beta-sandwich, which resembles an immunoglobulin-like fold. The surface-charge distribution of PfAsf1 is distinct from yAsf1 and hAsf1 although the core-structure shows significant similarity. The crystal-structure indicated that PfAsf1 may exist in a dimeric-state which was further confirmed by solution cross-linking experiment. PfAsf1 was found to specifically interact with Plasmodium histone H3 and H4 and was able to deposit H3/H4 dimer onto DNA-template to form disomes, showing its characteristic histone chaperone activity. We mapped the critical residues of PfAsf1 involved in histone H3/H4 interaction and confirmed by site-directed mutagenesis. Further analysis indicates that histone interacting surface of Asf1 is highly conserved while the dimerization interface is variable. Our results identify the role of PfAsf1 as a mediator of chromatin assembly in Plasmodium falciparum, which is the causative agent of malignant malaria in humans.
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25
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Pan J, Williams E, Sung W, Lynch M, Long H. The insect-killing bacterium Photorhabdus luminescens has the lowest mutation rate among bacteria. MARINE LIFE SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2021; 3:20-27. [PMID: 33791681 PMCID: PMC8009600 DOI: 10.1007/s42995-020-00060-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
Mutation is a primary source of genetic variation that is used to power evolution. Many studies, however, have shown that most mutations are deleterious and, as a result, extremely low mutation rates might be beneficial for survival. Using a mutation accumulation experiment, an unbiased method for mutation study, we found an extremely low base-substitution mutation rate of 5.94 × 10-11 per nucleotide site per cell division (95% Poisson confidence intervals: 4.65 × 10-11, 7.48 × 10-11) and indel mutation rate of 8.25 × 10-12 per site per cell division (95% confidence intervals: 3.96 × 10-12, 1.52 × 10-11) in the bacterium Photorhabdus luminescens ATCC29999. The mutations are strongly A/T-biased with a mutation bias of 10.28 in the A/T direction. It has been hypothesized that the ability for selection to lower mutation rates is inversely proportional to the effective population size (drift-barrier hypothesis) and we found that the effective population size of this bacterium is significantly greater than most other bacteria. This finding further decreases the lower-bounds of bacterial mutation rates and provides evidence that extreme levels of replication fidelity can evolve within organisms that maintain large effective population sizes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiao Pan
- Institute of Evolution and Marine Biodiversity, KLMME, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266003 China
| | - Emily Williams
- Center for Mechanisms of Evolution, The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281 USA
| | - Way Sung
- Department of Bioinformatics and Genomics, University of North Carolina, Charlotte, NC 28223 USA
| | - Michael Lynch
- Center for Mechanisms of Evolution, The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281 USA
| | - Hongan Long
- Institute of Evolution and Marine Biodiversity, KLMME, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266003 China
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26
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Sato S. Plasmodium-a brief introduction to the parasites causing human malaria and their basic biology. J Physiol Anthropol 2021; 40:1. [PMID: 33413683 PMCID: PMC7792015 DOI: 10.1186/s40101-020-00251-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 108] [Impact Index Per Article: 36.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2020] [Accepted: 12/21/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Malaria is one of the most devastating infectious diseases of humans. It is problematic clinically and economically as it prevails in poorer countries and regions, strongly hindering socioeconomic development. The causative agents of malaria are unicellular protozoan parasites belonging to the genus Plasmodium. These parasites infect not only humans but also other vertebrates, from reptiles and birds to mammals. To date, over 200 species of Plasmodium have been formally described, and each species infects a certain range of hosts. Plasmodium species that naturally infect humans and cause malaria in large areas of the world are limited to five-P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. malariae, P. ovale and P. knowlesi. The first four are specific for humans, while P. knowlesi is naturally maintained in macaque monkeys and causes zoonotic malaria widely in South East Asia. Transmission of Plasmodium species between vertebrate hosts depends on an insect vector, which is usually the mosquito. The vector is not just a carrier but the definitive host, where sexual reproduction of Plasmodium species occurs, and the parasite's development in the insect is essential for transmission to the next vertebrate host. The range of insect species that can support the critical development of Plasmodium depends on the individual parasite species, but all five Plasmodium species causing malaria in humans are transmitted exclusively by anopheline mosquitoes. Plasmodium species have remarkable genetic flexibility which lets them adapt to alterations in the environment, giving them the potential to quickly develop resistance to therapeutics such as antimalarials and to change host specificity. In this article, selected topics involving the Plasmodium species that cause malaria in humans are reviewed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shigeharu Sato
- Borneo Medical and Health Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
- Department of Pathobiology and Medical Diagnostics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
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27
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Belfield EJ, Brown C, Ding ZJ, Chapman L, Luo M, Hinde E, van Es SW, Johnson S, Ning Y, Zheng SJ, Mithani A, Harberd NP. Thermal stress accelerates Arabidopsis thaliana mutation rate. Genome Res 2020; 31:40-50. [PMID: 33334733 PMCID: PMC7849391 DOI: 10.1101/gr.259853.119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2019] [Accepted: 10/28/2020] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
Mutations are the source of both genetic diversity and mutational load. However, the effects of increasing environmental temperature on plant mutation rates and relative impact on specific mutational classes (e.g., insertion/deletion [indel] vs. single nucleotide variant [SNV]) are unknown. This topic is important because of the poorly defined effects of anthropogenic global temperature rise on biological systems. Here, we show the impact of temperature increase on Arabidopsis thaliana mutation, studying whole genome profiles of mutation accumulation (MA) lineages grown for 11 successive generations at 29°C. Whereas growth of A. thaliana at standard temperature (ST; 23°C) is associated with a mutation rate of 7 × 10−9 base substitutions per site per generation, growth at stressful high temperature (HT; 29°C) is highly mutagenic, increasing the mutation rate to 12 × 10−9. SNV frequency is approximately two- to threefold higher at HT than at ST, and HT-growth causes an ∼19- to 23-fold increase in indel frequency, resulting in a disproportionate increase in indels (vs. SNVs). Most HT-induced indels are 1–2 bp in size and particularly affect homopolymeric or dinucleotide A or T stretch regions of the genome. HT-induced indels occur disproportionately in nucleosome-free regions, suggesting that much HT-induced mutational damage occurs during cell-cycle phases when genomic DNA is packaged into nucleosomes. We conclude that stressful experimental temperature increases accelerate plant mutation rates and particularly accelerate the rate of indel mutation. Increasing environmental temperatures are thus likely to have significant mutagenic consequences for plants growing in the wild and may, in particular, add detrimentally to mutational load.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric J Belfield
- Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3RB, United Kingdom
| | - Carly Brown
- Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3RB, United Kingdom
| | - Zhong Jie Ding
- Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3RB, United Kingdom.,State Key Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058 China
| | - Lottie Chapman
- Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3RB, United Kingdom.,Faculty of Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva 1211, Switzerland
| | - Mengqian Luo
- Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3RB, United Kingdom.,Centre for Cell and Developmental Biology, State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology, School of Life Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong, China
| | - Eleanor Hinde
- Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3RB, United Kingdom
| | - Sam W van Es
- Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3RB, United Kingdom.,Department of Plant Physiology, Umeå Plant Science Centre, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden
| | - Sophie Johnson
- Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3RB, United Kingdom
| | - Youzheng Ning
- Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3RB, United Kingdom.,Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EA, United Kingdom
| | - Shao Jian Zheng
- State Key Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058 China
| | - Aziz Mithani
- Department of Biology, Syed Babar Ali School of Science and Engineering, Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), DHA, Lahore 54792, Pakistan
| | - Nicholas P Harberd
- Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3RB, United Kingdom
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28
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Derilus D, Rahman MZ, Serrano AE, Massey SE. Proteome size reduction in Apicomplexans is linked with loss of DNA repair and host redundant pathways. INFECTION GENETICS AND EVOLUTION 2020; 87:104642. [PMID: 33296723 DOI: 10.1016/j.meegid.2020.104642] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2020] [Revised: 11/07/2020] [Accepted: 11/23/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Apicomplexans are alveolate parasites which include Plasmodium falciparum, the main cause of malaria, one of the world's biggest killers from infectious disease. Apicomplexans are characterized by a reduction in proteome size, which appears to result from metabolic and functional simplification, commensurate with their parasitic lifestyle. However, other factors may also help to explain gene loss such as population bottlenecks experienced during transmission, and the effect of reducing the overall genomic information content. The latter constitutes an 'informational constraint', which is proposed to exert a selective pressure to evolve and maintain genes involved in informational fidelity and error correction, proportional to the quantity of information in the genome (which approximates to proteome size). The dynamics of gene loss was examined in 41 Apicomplexan genomes using orthogroup analysis. We show that loss of genes involved in amino acid metabolism and steroid biosynthesis can be explained by metabolic redundancy with the host. We also show that there is a marked tendency to lose DNA repair genes as proteome size is reduced. This may be explained by a reduction in size of the informational constraint and can help to explain elevated mutation rates in pathogens with reduced genome size. Multiple Sequentially Markovian Coalescent (MSMC) analysis indicates a recent bottleneck, consistent with predictions generated using allele-based population genetics approaches, implying that relaxed selection pressure due to reduced population size might have contributed to gene loss. However, the non-randomness of pathways that are lost challenges this scenario. Lastly, we identify unique orthogroups in malaria-causing Plasmodium species that infect humans, with a high proportion of membrane associated proteins. Thus, orthogroup analysis appears useful for identifying novel candidate pathogenic factors in parasites, when there is a wide sample of genomes available.
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Affiliation(s)
- D Derilus
- Environmental Sciences Department, University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras, United States of America
| | - M Z Rahman
- Biology Department, University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras, United States of America
| | - A E Serrano
- Department of Microbiology, University of Puerto Rico-School of Medicine, Medical Sciences, United States of America
| | - S E Massey
- Biology Department, University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras, United States of America.
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29
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Izrael R, Marton L, Nagy GN, Pálinkás HL, Kucsma N, Vértessy BG. Identification of a nuclear localization signal in the Plasmodium falciparum CTP: phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase enzyme. Sci Rep 2020; 10:19739. [PMID: 33184408 PMCID: PMC7665022 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-76829-1] [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] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2020] [Accepted: 11/02/2020] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The phospholipid biosynthesis of the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum is a key process for its survival and its inhibition is a validated antimalarial therapeutic approach. The second and rate-limiting step of the de novo phosphatidylcholine biosynthesis is catalysed by CTP: phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase (PfCCT), which has a key regulatory function within the pathway. Here, we investigate the functional impact of the key structural differences and their respective role in the structurally unique pseudo-heterodimer PfCCT protein in a heterologous cellular context using the thermosensitive CCT-mutant CHO-MT58 cell line. We found that a Plasmodium-specific lysine-rich insertion within the catalytic domain of PfCCT acts as a nuclear localization signal and its deletion decreases the nuclear propensity of the protein in the model cell line. We further showed that the putative membrane-binding domain also affected the nuclear localization of the protein. Moreover, activation of phosphatidylcholine biosynthesis by phospholipase C treatment induces the partial nuclear-to-cytoplasmic translocation of PfCCT. We additionally investigated the cellular function of several PfCCT truncated constructs in a CHO-MT58 based rescue assay. In absence of the endogenous CCT activity we observed that truncated constructs lacking the lysine-rich insertion, or the membrane-binding domain provided similar cell survival ratio as the full length PfCCT protein.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard Izrael
- Institute of Enzymology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, 1117, Budapest, Hungary.
- Doctoral School of Multidisciplinary Medical Sciences, University of Szeged, 6720, Szeged, Hungary.
- Department of Applied Biotechnology, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, 1111, Budapest, Hungary.
| | - Lívia Marton
- Institute of Enzymology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, 1117, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Gergely N Nagy
- Institute of Enzymology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, 1117, Budapest, Hungary
- Department of Applied Biotechnology, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, 1111, Budapest, Hungary
- Division of Structural Biology, Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7BN, UK
| | - Hajnalka L Pálinkás
- Institute of Enzymology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, 1117, Budapest, Hungary
- Doctoral School of Multidisciplinary Medical Sciences, University of Szeged, 6720, Szeged, Hungary
- Department of Applied Biotechnology, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, 1111, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Nóra Kucsma
- Institute of Enzymology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, 1117, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Beáta G Vértessy
- Institute of Enzymology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, 1117, Budapest, Hungary.
- Department of Applied Biotechnology, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, 1111, Budapest, Hungary.
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30
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Song K. Genomic Landscape of Mutational Biases in the Pacific Oyster Crassostrea gigas. Genome Biol Evol 2020; 12:1943-1952. [PMID: 32722758 PMCID: PMC7674689 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evaa160] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/23/2020] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Mutation is a driving force of evolution that has been shaped by natural selection and is universally biased. Previous studies determined genome-wide mutational patterns for several species and investigated the heterogeneity of mutational patterns at fine-scale levels. However, little evidence of the heterogeneity of mutation rates over large genomic regions was shown. Hence, the mutational patterns of different large-scale genomic regions and their association with selective pressures still need to be explored. As the second most species-rich animal phylum, little is known about the mutational patterns in Mollusca, especially oysters. In this study, the mutational bias patterns are characterized by using whole-genome resequencing data in the Crassostrea gigas genome. I studied the genome-wide relative rates of the pair mutations and found that the predominant mutation is GC -> AT, irrespective of the genomic regions. This analysis reveals that mutational biases were associated with gene expression levels across the C. gigas genome. Genes with higher expression levels and breadth expression patterns, longer coding length, and more exon numbers had relatively higher GC -> AT rates. I also found that genes with larger dN/dS values had relatively higher GC -> AT rates. This work represents the first comprehensive research on the mutational biases in Mollusca species. Here, I comprehensively investigated the relationships between mutational biases with some intrinsic genetic factors and evolutionary indicators and proposed that selective pressures are important forces shaping the mutational biases across the C. gigas genome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kai Song
- School of Mathematics and Statistics, Qingdao University, Shandong, China
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Low Base-Substitution Mutation Rate but High Rate of Slippage Mutations in the Sequence Repeat-Rich Genome of Dictyostelium discoideum. G3-GENES GENOMES GENETICS 2020; 10:3445-3452. [PMID: 32732307 PMCID: PMC7466956 DOI: 10.1534/g3.120.401578] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
We describe the rate and spectrum of spontaneous mutations for the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum, a key model organism in molecular, cellular, evolutionary and developmental biology. Whole-genome sequencing of 37 mutation accumulation lines of D. discoideum after an average of 1,500 cell divisions yields a base-substitution mutation rate of 2.47 × 10−11 per site per generation, substantially lower than that of most eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms, and of the same order of magnitude as in the ciliates Paramecium tetraurelia and Tetrahymena thermophila. Known for its high genomic AT content and abundance of simple sequence repeats, we observe that base-substitution mutations in D. discoideum are highly A/T biased. This bias likely contributes both to the high genomic AT content and to the formation of simple sequence repeats in the AT-rich genome of Dictyostelium discoideum. In contrast to the situation in other surveyed unicellular eukaryotes, indel rates far exceed the base-substitution mutation rate in this organism with a high proportion of 3n indels, particularly in regions without simple sequence repeats. Like ciliates, D. discoideum has a large effective population size, reducing the power of random genetic drift, magnifying the effect of selection on replication fidelity, in principle allowing D. discoideum to evolve an extremely low base-substitution mutation rate.
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Estimation of the Genome-Wide Mutation Rate and Spectrum in the Archaeal Species Haloferax volcanii. Genetics 2020; 215:1107-1116. [PMID: 32513815 DOI: 10.1534/genetics.120.303299] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2018] [Accepted: 05/26/2020] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Organisms adapted to life in extreme habitats (extremophiles) can further our understanding of the mechanisms of genetic stability, particularly replication and repair. Despite the harsh environmental conditions they endure, these extremophiles represent a great deal of the Earth's biodiversity. Here, for the first time in a member of the archaeal domain, we report a genome-wide assay of spontaneous mutations in the halophilic species Haloferax volcanii using a direct and unbiased method: mutation accumulation experiments combined with deep whole-genome sequencing. H. volcanii is a key model organism not only for the study of halophilicity, but also for archaeal biology in general. Our methods measure the genome-wide rate, spectrum, and spatial distribution of spontaneous mutations. The estimated base substitution rate of 3.15 × 10-10 per site per generation, or 0.0012 per genome per generation, is similar to the value found in mesophilic prokaryotes (optimal growth at ∼20-45°). This study contributes to a comprehensive phylogenetic view of how evolutionary forces and molecular mechanisms shape the rate and molecular spectrum of mutations across the tree of life.
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Wilken SE, Seppälä S, Lankiewicz TS, Saxena M, Henske JK, Salamov AA, Grigoriev IV, O’Malley MA. Genomic and proteomic biases inform metabolic engineering strategies for anaerobic fungi. Metab Eng Commun 2020; 10:e00107. [PMID: 31799118 PMCID: PMC6883316 DOI: 10.1016/j.mec.2019.e00107] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2019] [Revised: 10/24/2019] [Accepted: 11/04/2019] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Anaerobic fungi (Neocallimastigomycota) are emerging non-model hosts for biotechnology due to their wealth of biomass-degrading enzymes, yet tools to engineer these fungi have not yet been established. Here, we show that the anaerobic gut fungi have the most GC depleted genomes among 443 sequenced organisms in the fungal kingdom, which has ramifications for heterologous expression of genes as well as for emerging CRISPR-based genome engineering approaches. Comparative genomic analyses suggest that anaerobic fungi may contain cellular machinery to aid in sexual reproduction, yet a complete mating pathway was not identified. Predicted proteomes of the anaerobic fungi also contain an unusually large fraction of proteins with homopolymeric amino acid runs consisting of five or more identical consecutive amino acids. In particular, threonine runs are especially enriched in anaerobic fungal carbohydrate active enzymes (CAZymes) and this, together with a high abundance of predicted N-glycosylation motifs, suggests that gut fungal CAZymes are heavily glycosylated, which may impact heterologous production of these biotechnologically useful enzymes. Finally, we present a codon optimization strategy to aid in the development of genetic engineering tools tailored to these early-branching anaerobic fungi.
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Affiliation(s)
- St. Elmo Wilken
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA
| | - Susanna Seppälä
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA
| | - Thomas S. Lankiewicz
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA
- Department of Evolution Ecology and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA
| | - Mohan Saxena
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA
| | - John K. Henske
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA
| | - Asaf A. Salamov
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, 2800 Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek, CA, 94598, USA
| | - Igor V. Grigoriev
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, 2800 Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek, CA, 94598, USA
| | - Michelle A. O’Malley
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA
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Dimonte S, Bruske EI, Enderes C, Otto TD, Turner L, Kremsner P, Frank M. Identification of a conserved var gene in different Plasmodium falciparum strains. Malar J 2020; 19:194. [PMID: 32471507 PMCID: PMC7260770 DOI: 10.1186/s12936-020-03257-x] [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: 10/31/2019] [Accepted: 05/15/2020] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The multicopy var gene family of Plasmodium falciparum is of crucial importance for pathogenesis and antigenic variation. So far only var2csa, the var gene responsible for placental malaria, was found to be highly conserved among all P. falciparum strains. Here, a new conserved 3D7 var gene (PF3D7_0617400) is identified in several field isolates. METHODS DNA sequencing, transcriptional analysis, Cluster of Differentiation (CD) 36-receptor binding, indirect immunofluorescence with PF3D7_0617400-antibodies and quantification of surface reactivity against semi-immune sera were used to characterize an NF54 clone and a Gabonese field isolate clone (MOA C3) transcribing the gene. A population of 714 whole genome sequenced parasites was analysed to characterize the conservation of the locus in African and Asian isolates. The genetic diversity of two var2csa fragments was compared with the genetic diversity of 57 microsatellites fragments in field isolates. RESULTS PFGA01_060022400 was identified in a Gabonese parasite isolate (MOA) from a chronic infection and found to be 99% identical with PF3D7_0617400 of the 3D7 genome strain. Transcriptional analysis and immunofluorescence showed expression of the gene in an NF54 and a MOA clone but CD36 binding assays and surface reactivity to semi-immune sera differed markedly in the two clones. Long-read Pacific bioscience whole genome sequencing showed that PFGA01_060022400 is located in the internal cluster of chromosome 6. The full length PFGA01_060022400 was detected in 36 of 714 P. falciparum isolates and 500 bp fragments were identified in more than 100 isolates. var2csa was in parts highly conserved (He = 0) but in other parts as variable (He = 0.86) as the 57 microsatellites markers (He = 0.8). CONCLUSIONS Individual var gene sequences exhibit conservation in the global parasite population suggesting that purifying selection may limit overall genetic diversity of some var genes. Notably, field and laboratory isolates expressing the same var gene exhibit markedly different phenotypes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sandra Dimonte
- Institute of Tropical Medicine, University of Tuebingen, Wilhelmstr. 27, 72074, Tuebingen, Germany
| | - Ellen I Bruske
- Institute of Tropical Medicine, University of Tuebingen, Wilhelmstr. 27, 72074, Tuebingen, Germany
| | - Corinna Enderes
- Institute of Tropical Medicine, University of Tuebingen, Wilhelmstr. 27, 72074, Tuebingen, Germany
| | - Thomas D Otto
- Malaria Programme, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, CB10 1SA, UK.,Centre of Immunobiology, Institute of Infection, Immunity & Inflammation, College of MVLS, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
| | - Louise Turner
- Centre for Medical Parasitology, Department of Immunology and Microbiology (ISIM), Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, 1165, Copenhagen, Denmark.,Department of Infectious Diseases, Copenhagen University Hospital (Rigshospitalet), 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Peter Kremsner
- Institute of Tropical Medicine, University of Tuebingen, Wilhelmstr. 27, 72074, Tuebingen, Germany
| | - Matthias Frank
- Institute of Tropical Medicine, University of Tuebingen, Wilhelmstr. 27, 72074, Tuebingen, Germany.
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Mathema VB, Nakeesathit S, White NJ, Dondorp AM, Imwong M. Genome-wide microsatellite characteristics of five human Plasmodium species, focusing on Plasmodium malariae and P. ovale curtisi. Parasite 2020; 27:34. [PMID: 32410726 PMCID: PMC7227371 DOI: 10.1051/parasite/2020034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2019] [Accepted: 04/30/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Microsatellites can be utilized to explore genotypes, population structure, and other genomic features of eukaryotes. Systematic characterization of microsatellites has not been a focus for several species of Plasmodium, including P. malariae and P. ovale, as the majority of malaria elimination programs are focused on P. falciparum and to a lesser extent P. vivax. Here, five human malaria species (P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. malariae, P. ovale curtisi, and P. knowlesi) were investigated with the aim of conducting in-depth categorization of microsatellites for P. malariae and P. ovale curtisi. Investigation of reference genomes for microsatellites with unit motifs of 1-10 base pairs indicates high diversity among the five Plasmodium species. Plasmodium malariae, with the largest genome size, displays the second highest microsatellite density (1421 No./Mbp; 5% coverage) next to P. falciparum (3634 No./Mbp; 12% coverage). The lowest microsatellite density was observed in P. vivax (773 No./Mbp; 2% coverage). A, AT, and AAT are the most commonly repeated motifs in the Plasmodium species. For P. malariae and P. ovale curtisi, microsatellite-related sequences are observed in approximately 18-29% of coding sequences (CDS). Lysine, asparagine, and glutamic acids are most frequently coded by microsatellite-related CDS. The majority of these CDS could be related to the gene ontology terms "cell parts," "binding," "developmental processes," and "metabolic processes." The present study provides a comprehensive overview of microsatellite distribution and can assist in the planning and development of potentially useful genetic tools for further investigation of P. malariae and P. ovale curtisi epidemiology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vivek Bhakta Mathema
- Department of Molecular Tropical Medicine and Genetics, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University 10400 Bangkok Thailand
| | - Supatchara Nakeesathit
- Mahidol–Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University 10400 Bangkok Thailand
| | - Nicholas J. White
- Mahidol–Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University 10400 Bangkok Thailand
- Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford OX1 2JD Oxford United Kingdom
| | - Arjen M. Dondorp
- Mahidol–Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University 10400 Bangkok Thailand
- Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford OX1 2JD Oxford United Kingdom
| | - Mallika Imwong
- Department of Molecular Tropical Medicine and Genetics, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University 10400 Bangkok Thailand
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Mathema VB, Nakeesathit S, Pagornrat W, Smithuis F, White NJ, Dondorp AM, Imwong M. Polymorphic markers for identification of parasite population in Plasmodium malariae. Malar J 2020; 19:48. [PMID: 31992308 PMCID: PMC6988369 DOI: 10.1186/s12936-020-3122-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2019] [Accepted: 01/13/2020] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Molecular genotyping in Plasmodium serves many aims including providing tools for studying parasite population genetics and distinguishing recrudescence from reinfection. Microsatellite typing, insertion-deletion (INDEL) and single nucleotide polymorphisms is used for genotyping, but only limited information is available for Plasmodium malariae, an important human malaria species. This study aimed to provide a set of genetic markers to facilitate the study of P. malariae population genetics. Methods Markers for microsatellite genotyping and pmmsp1 gene polymorphisms were developed and validated in symptomatic P. malariae field isolates from Myanmar (N = 37). Fragment analysis was used to determine allele sizes at each locus to calculate multiplicity of infections (MOI), linkage disequilibrium, heterozygosity and construct dendrograms. Nucleotide diversity (π), number of haplotypes, and genetic diversity (Hd) were assessed and a phylogenetic tree was constructed. Genome-wide microsatellite maps with annotated regions of newly identified markers were constructed. Results Six microsatellite markers were developed and tested in 37 P. malariae isolates which showed sufficient heterozygosity (0.530–0.922), and absence of linkage disequilibrium (IAS=0.03, p value > 0.05) (N = 37). In addition, a tandem repeat (VNTR)-based pmmsp1 INDEL polymorphisms marker was developed and assessed in 27 P. malariae isolates showing a nucleotide diversity of 0.0976, haplotype gene diversity of 0.698 and identified 14 unique variants. The size of VNTR consensus repeat unit adopted as allele was 27 base pairs. The markers Pm12_426 and pmmsp1 showed greatest diversity with heterozygosity scores of 0.920 and 0.835, respectively. Using six microsatellites markers, the likelihood that any two parasite strains would have the same microsatellite genotypes was 8.46 × 10−4 and was further reduced to 1.66 × 10−4 when pmmsp1 polymorphisms were included. Conclusions Six novel microsatellites genotyping markers and a set of pmmsp1 VNTR-based INDEL polymorphisms markers for P. malariae were developed and validated. Each marker could be independently or in combination employed to access genotyping of the parasite. The newly developed markers may serve as a useful tool for investigating parasite diversity, population genetics, molecular epidemiology and for distinguishing recrudescence from reinfection in drug efficacy studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vivek Bhakta Mathema
- Department of Molecular Tropical Medicine and Genetics, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, 10400, Thailand
| | - Supatchara Nakeesathit
- Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Watcharee Pagornrat
- Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Frank Smithuis
- Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand.,Medical Action Myanmar, Yangon, Myanmar.,Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - 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, UK
| | - Arjen M 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, UK
| | - Mallika Imwong
- Department of Molecular Tropical Medicine and Genetics, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, 10400, Thailand.
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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: 6.3] [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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Krasovec M, Sanchez-Brosseau S, Piganeau G. First Estimation of the Spontaneous Mutation Rate in Diatoms. Genome Biol Evol 2020; 11:1829-1837. [PMID: 31218358 PMCID: PMC6604790 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evz130] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/17/2019] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Mutations are the origin of genetic diversity, and the mutation rate is a fundamental parameter to understand all aspects of molecular evolution. The combination of mutation-accumulation experiments and high-throughput sequencing enabled the estimation of mutation rates in most model organisms, but several major eukaryotic lineages remain unexplored. Here, we report the first estimation of the spontaneous mutation rate in a model unicellular eukaryote from the Stramenopile kingdom, the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum (strain RCC2967). We sequenced 36 mutation accumulation lines for an average of 181 generations per line and identified 156 de novo mutations. The base substitution mutation rate per site per generation is μbs = 4.77 × 10-10 and the insertion-deletion mutation rate is μid = 1.58 × 10-11. The mutation rate varies as a function of the nucleotide context and is biased toward an excess of mutations from GC to AT, consistent with previous observations in other species. Interestingly, the mutation rates between the genomes of organelles and the nucleus differ, with a significantly higher mutation rate in the mitochondria. This confirms previous claims based on indirect estimations of the mutation rate in mitochondria of photosynthetic eukaryotes that acquired their plastid through a secondary endosymbiosis. This novel estimate enables us to infer the effective population size of P. tricornutum to be Ne∼8.72 × 106.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marc Krasovec
- Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, CNRS, Biologie Intégrative des Organismes Marins (BIOM), Observatoire Océanologique, Banyuls/Mer, France
| | - Sophie Sanchez-Brosseau
- Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, CNRS, Biologie Intégrative des Organismes Marins (BIOM), Observatoire Océanologique, Banyuls/Mer, France
| | - Gwenael Piganeau
- Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, CNRS, Biologie Intégrative des Organismes Marins (BIOM), Observatoire Océanologique, Banyuls/Mer, France.,Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
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McDew-White M, Li X, Nkhoma SC, Nair S, Cheeseman I, Anderson TJC. Mode and Tempo of Microsatellite Length Change in a Malaria Parasite Mutation Accumulation Experiment. Genome Biol Evol 2020; 11:1971-1985. [PMID: 31273388 PMCID: PMC6644851 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evz140] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/29/2019] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Malaria parasites have small extremely AT-rich genomes: microsatellite repeats (1–9 bp) comprise 11% of the genome and genetic variation in natural populations is dominated by repeat changes in microsatellites rather than point mutations. This experiment was designed to quantify microsatellite mutation patterns in Plasmodium falciparum. We established 31 parasite cultures derived from a single parasite cell and maintained these for 114–267 days with frequent reductions to a single cell, so parasites accumulated mutations during ∼13,207 cell divisions. We Illumina sequenced the genomes of both progenitor and end-point mutation accumulation (MA) parasite lines in duplicate to validate stringent calling parameters. Microsatellite calls were 99.89% (GATK), 99.99% (freeBayes), and 99.96% (HipSTR) concordant in duplicate sequence runs from independent sequence libraries, whereas introduction of microsatellite mutations into the reference genome revealed a low false negative calling rate (0.68%). We observed 98 microsatellite mutations. We highlight several conclusions: microsatellite mutation rates (3.12 × 10−7 to 2.16 × 10−8/cell division) are associated with both repeat number and repeat motif like other organisms studied. However, 41% of changes resulted from loss or gain of more than one repeat: this was particularly true for long repeat arrays. Unlike other eukaryotes, we found no insertions or deletions that were not associated with repeats or homology regions. Overall, microsatellite mutation rates are among the lowest recorded and comparable to those in another AT-rich protozoan (Dictyostelium). However, a single infection (>1011 parasites) will still contain over 2.16 × 103 to 3.12 × 104 independent mutations at any single microsatellite locus.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Xue Li
- Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas
| | - Standwell C Nkhoma
- Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas.,Malaria Research and Reference Reagent Resource Center (MR4), BEI Resources, American Type Culture Collection, 10801 University Boulevard, Manassas, VA
| | - Shalini Nair
- Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas
| | - Ian Cheeseman
- Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas
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Erath J, Djuranovic S, Djuranovic SP. Adaptation of Translational Machinery in Malaria Parasites to Accommodate Translation of Poly-Adenosine Stretches Throughout Its Life Cycle. Front Microbiol 2019; 10:2823. [PMID: 31866984 PMCID: PMC6908487 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.02823] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2019] [Accepted: 11/21/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Malaria is caused by unicellular apicomplexan parasites of the genus Plasmodium, which includes the major human parasite Plasmodium falciparum. The complex cycle of the malaria parasite in both mosquito and human hosts has been studied extensively. There is tight control of gene expression in each developmental stage, and at every level of gene synthesis: from RNA transcription, to its subsequent translation, and finally post-translational modifications of the resulting protein. Whole-genome sequencing of P. falciparum has laid the foundation for significant biological advances by revealing surprising genomic information. The P. falciparum genome is extremely AT-rich (∼80%), with a substantial portion of genes encoding intragenic polyadenosine (polyA) tracks being expressed throughout the entire parasite life cycle. In most eukaryotes, intragenic polyA runs act as negative regulators of gene expression. Recent studies have shown that translation of mRNAs containing 12 or more consecutive adenosines results in ribosomal stalling and frameshifting; activating mRNA surveillance mechanisms. In contrast, P. falciparum translational machinery can efficiently and accurately translate polyA tracks without activating mRNA surveillance pathways. This unique feature of P. falciparum raises interesting questions: (1) How is P. falciparum able to efficiently and correctly translate polyA track transcripts, and (2) What are the specifics of the translational machinery and mRNA surveillance mechanisms that separate P. falciparum from other organisms? In this review, we analyze possible evolutionary shifts in P. falciparum protein synthesis machinery that allow efficient translation of an AU rich-transcriptome. We focus on physiological and structural differences of P. falciparum stage specific ribosomes, ribosome-associated proteins, and changes in mRNA surveillance mechanisms throughout the complete parasite life cycle, with an emphasis on the mosquito and liver stages.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Sergej Djuranovic
- Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, United States
| | - Slavica Pavlovic Djuranovic
- Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, United States
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41
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Nenarokova A, Záhonová K, Krasilnikova M, Gahura O, McCulloch R, Zíková A, Yurchenko V, Lukeš J. Causes and Effects of Loss of Classical Nonhomologous End Joining Pathway in Parasitic Eukaryotes. mBio 2019; 10:e01541-19. [PMID: 31311886 PMCID: PMC6635534 DOI: 10.1128/mbio.01541-19] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2019] [Accepted: 06/18/2019] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
We report frequent losses of components of the classical nonhomologous end joining pathway (C-NHEJ), one of the main eukaryotic tools for end joining repair of DNA double-strand breaks, in several lineages of parasitic protists. Moreover, we have identified a single lineage among trypanosomatid flagellates that has lost Ku70 and Ku80, the core C-NHEJ components, and accumulated numerous insertions in many protein-coding genes. We propose a correlation between these two phenomena and discuss the possible impact of the C-NHEJ loss on genome evolution and transition to the parasitic lifestyle.IMPORTANCE Parasites tend to evolve small and compact genomes, generally endowed with a high mutation rate, compared with those of their free-living relatives. However, the mechanisms by which they achieve these features, independently in unrelated lineages, remain largely unknown. We argue that the loss of the classical nonhomologous end joining pathway components may be one of the crucial steps responsible for characteristic features of parasite genomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Nenarokova
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
- Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
| | - Kristína Záhonová
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
- Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, BIOCEV, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Marija Krasilnikova
- Wellcome Centre for Molecular Parasitology, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland
| | - Ondřej Gahura
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
| | - Richard McCulloch
- Wellcome Centre for Molecular Parasitology, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland
| | - Alena Zíková
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
- Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
| | - Vyacheslav Yurchenko
- Martsinovsky Institute of Medical Parasitology, Sechenov University, Moscow, Russia
- Life Science Research Centre and Institute of Environmental Technologies, Faculty of Science, University of Ostrava, Ostrava, Czech Republic
| | - Julius Lukeš
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
- Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
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42
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Zhang X, Alexander N, Leonardi I, Mason C, Kirkman LA, Deitsch KW. Rapid antigen diversification through mitotic recombination in the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. PLoS Biol 2019; 17:e3000271. [PMID: 31083650 PMCID: PMC6532940 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000271] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2019] [Revised: 05/23/2019] [Accepted: 04/30/2019] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Malaria parasites possess the remarkable ability to maintain chronic infections that fail to elicit a protective immune response, characteristics that have stymied vaccine development and cause people living in endemic regions to remain at risk of malaria despite previous exposure to the disease. These traits stem from the tremendous antigenic diversity displayed by parasites circulating in the field. For Plasmodium falciparum, the most virulent of the human malaria parasites, this diversity is exemplified by the variant gene family called var, which encodes the major surface antigen displayed on infected red blood cells (RBCs). This gene family exhibits virtually limitless diversity when var gene repertoires from different parasite isolates are compared. Previous studies indicated that this remarkable genome plasticity results from extensive ectopic recombination between var genes during mitotic replication; however, the molecular mechanisms that direct this process to antigen-encoding loci while the rest of the genome remains relatively stable were not determined. Using targeted DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) and long-read whole-genome sequencing, we show that a single break within an antigen-encoding region of the genome can result in a cascade of recombination events leading to the generation of multiple chimeric var genes, a process that can greatly accelerate the generation of diversity within this family. We also found that recombinations did not occur randomly, but rather high-probability, specific recombination products were observed repeatedly. These results provide a molecular basis for previously described structured rearrangements that drive diversification of this highly polymorphic gene family.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xu Zhang
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Noah Alexander
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Irina Leonardi
- Jill Roberts Center for Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Christopher Mason
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York, United States of America
- HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud Institute for Computational Biomedicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York, United States of America
- Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York, United States of America
- WorldQuant Initiative for Quantitative Prediction, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Laura A. Kirkman
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York, United States of America
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Kirk W. Deitsch
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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43
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Mathema VB, Dondorp AM, Imwong M. OSTRFPD: Multifunctional Tool for Genome-Wide Short Tandem Repeat Analysis for DNA, Transcripts, and Amino Acid Sequences with Integrated Primer Designer. Evol Bioinform Online 2019; 15:1176934319843130. [PMID: 31040636 PMCID: PMC6482647 DOI: 10.1177/1176934319843130] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2019] [Accepted: 03/15/2019] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Microsatellite mining is a common outcome of the in silico approach to genomic studies. The resulting short tandemly repeated DNA could be used as molecular markers for studying polymorphism, genotyping and forensics. The omni short tandem repeat finder and primer designer (OSTRFPD) is among the few versatile, platform-independent open-source tools written in Python that enables researchers to identify and analyse genome-wide short tandem repeats in both nucleic acids and protein sequences. OSTRFPD is designed to run either in a user-friendly fully featured graphical interface or in a command line interface mode for advanced users. OSTRFPD can detect both perfect and imperfect repeats of low complexity with customisable scores. Moreover, the software has built-in architecture to simultaneously filter selection of flanking regions in DNA and generate microsatellite-targeted primers implementing the Primer3 platform. The software has built-in motif-sequence generator engines and an additional option to use the dictionary mode for custom motif searches. The software generates search results including general statistics containing motif categorisation, repeat frequencies, densities, coverage, guanine–cytosine (GC) content, and simple text-based imperfect alignment visualisation. Thus, OSTRFPD presents users with a quick single-step solution package to assist development of microsatellite markers and categorise tandemly repeated amino acids in proteome databases. Practical implementation of OSTRFPD was demonstrated using publicly available whole-genome sequences of selected Plasmodium species. OSTRFPD is freely available and open-sourced for improvement and user-specific adaptation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vivek Bhakta Mathema
- Department of Molecular Tropical Medicine and Genetics, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Arjen M Dondorp
- Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
- Centre for Tropical Medicine, Churchill Hospital, Oxford, UK
| | - Mallika Imwong
- Department of Molecular Tropical Medicine and Genetics, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
- Mallika Imwong, Department of Molecular Tropical Medicine and Genetics, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10400, Thailand.
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44
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Castillo AI, Nelson ADL, Lyons E. Tail Wags the Dog? Functional Gene Classes Driving Genome-Wide GC Content in Plasmodium spp. Genome Biol Evol 2019; 11:497-507. [PMID: 30689842 PMCID: PMC6385630 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evz015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/18/2019] [Indexed: 01/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Plasmodium parasites are valuable models to understand how nucleotide composition affects mutation, diversification, and adaptation. No other observed eukaryotes have undergone such large changes in genomic Guanine-Cytosine (GC) content as seen in the genus Plasmodium (∼30% within 35-40 Myr). Although mutational biases are known to influence GC content in the human-infective Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum; no study has addressed how different gene functional classes contribute to genus-wide compositional changes, or if Plasmodium GC content variation is driven by natural selection. Here, we tested the hypothesis that certain gene processes and functions drive variation in global GC content between Plasmodium species. We performed a large-scale comparative genomic analysis using the genomes and predicted genes of 17 Plasmodium species encompassing a wide genomic GC content range. Genic GC content was sorted and divided into ten equally sized quantiles that were then assessed for functional enrichment classes. In agreement that selection on gene classes may drive genomic GC content, trans-membrane proteins were enriched within extreme GC content quantiles (Q1 and Q10). Specifically, variant surface antigens, which primarily interact with vertebrate immune systems, showed skewed GC content distributions compared with other trans-membrane proteins. Although a definitive causation linking GC content, expression, and positive selection within variant surface antigens from Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium berghei, and Plasmodium falciparum could not be established, we found that regardless of genomic nucleotide composition, genic GC content and expression were positively correlated during trophozoite stages. Overall, these data suggest that, alongside mutational biases, functional protein classes drive Plasmodium GC content change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andreina I Castillo
- School of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley
| | | | - Eric Lyons
- BIO5 Institute, School of Plant Sciences, University of Arizona
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45
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Ararat-Sarria M, Patarroyo MA, Curtidor H. Parasite-Related Genetic and Epigenetic Aspects and Host Factors Influencing Plasmodium falciparum Invasion of Erythrocytes. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2019; 8:454. [PMID: 30693273 PMCID: PMC6339890 DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2018.00454] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2018] [Accepted: 12/21/2018] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Malaria, a disease caused by Plasmodium parasites, is widespread throughout tropical and sub-tropical regions worldwide; it mostly affects children and pregnant woman. Eradication has stalled despite effective prevention measures and medication being available for this disease; this has mainly been due to the parasite's resistance to medical treatment and the mosquito vector's resistance to insecticides. Tackling such resistance involves using renewed approaches and techniques for accruing a deep understanding of the parasite's biology, and developing new drugs and vaccines. Studying the parasite's invasion of erythrocytes should shed light on its ability to switch between invasion phenotypes related to the expression of gene sets encoding proteins acting as ligands during target cell invasion, thereby conferring mechanisms for evading a particular host's immune response and adapting to changes in target cell surface receptors. This review considers some factors influencing the expression of such phenotypes, such as Plasmodium's genetic, transcriptional and epigenetic characteristics, and explores some host-related aspects which could affect parasite phenotypes, aiming at integrating knowledge regarding this topic and the possible relationship between the parasite's biology and host factors playing a role in erythrocyte invasion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monica Ararat-Sarria
- Receptor-Ligand Department, Fundación Instituto de Inmunología de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia.,PhD Programme in Biomedical and Biological Sciences, Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá, Colombia
| | - Manuel A Patarroyo
- Molecular Biology and Immunology Department, Fundación Instituto de Immunología de Colombia (FIDIC), Bogotá, Colombia.,School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá, Colombia
| | - Hernando Curtidor
- Receptor-Ligand Department, Fundación Instituto de Inmunología de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia.,School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá, Colombia
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46
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Su HJ, Barkman TJ, Hao W, Jones SS, Naumann J, Skippington E, Wafula EK, Hu JM, Palmer JD, dePamphilis CW. Novel genetic code and record-setting AT-richness in the highly reduced plastid genome of the holoparasitic plant Balanophora. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2019; 116:934-943. [PMID: 30598433 PMCID: PMC6338844 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1816822116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Plastid genomes (plastomes) vary enormously in size and gene content among the many lineages of nonphotosynthetic plants, but key lineages remain unexplored. We therefore investigated plastome sequence and expression in the holoparasitic and morphologically bizarre Balanophoraceae. The two Balanophora plastomes examined are remarkable, exhibiting features rarely if ever seen before in plastomes or in any other genomes. At 15.5 kb in size and with only 19 genes, they are among the most reduced plastomes known. They have no tRNA genes for protein synthesis, a trait found in only three other plastid lineages, and thus Balanophora plastids must import all tRNAs needed for translation. Balanophora plastomes are exceptionally compact, with numerous overlapping genes, highly reduced spacers, loss of all cis-spliced introns, and shrunken protein genes. With A+T contents of 87.8% and 88.4%, the Balanophora genomes are the most AT-rich genomes known save for a single mitochondrial genome that is merely bloated with AT-rich spacer DNA. Most plastid protein genes in Balanophora consist of ≥90% AT, with several between 95% and 98% AT, resulting in the most biased codon usage in any genome described to date. A potential consequence of its radical compositional evolution is the novel genetic code used by Balanophora plastids, in which TAG has been reassigned from stop to tryptophan. Despite its many exceptional properties, the Balanophora plastome must be functional because all examined genes are transcribed, its only intron is correctly trans-spliced, and its protein genes, although highly divergent, are evolving under various degrees of selective constraint.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huei-Jiun Su
- Department of Earth and Life Sciences, University of Taipei, 100 Taipei, Taiwan
- Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
- Institute of Molecular Evolutionary Genetics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
| | - Todd J Barkman
- Department of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008
| | - Weilong Hao
- Department of Biological Sciences, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202
| | - Samuel S Jones
- Graduate Program in Plant Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
| | - Julia Naumann
- Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
- Institute of Molecular Evolutionary Genetics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
| | | | - Eric K Wafula
- Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
- Institute of Molecular Evolutionary Genetics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
| | - Jer-Ming Hu
- Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, National Taiwan University, 106 Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Jeffrey D Palmer
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405;
| | - Claude W dePamphilis
- Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802;
- Institute of Molecular Evolutionary Genetics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
- Graduate Program in Plant Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
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47
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Sinha I, Woodrow CJ. Forces acting on codon bias in malaria parasites. Sci Rep 2018; 8:15984. [PMID: 30374097 PMCID: PMC6206010 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-34404-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2017] [Accepted: 10/16/2018] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Malaria parasite genomes have a range of codon biases, with Plasmodium falciparum one of the most AT-biased genomes known. We examined the make up of synonymous coding sites and stop codons in the core genomes of representative malaria parasites, showing first that local DNA context influences codon bias similarly across P. falciparum, P. vivax and P. berghei, with suppression of CpG dinucleotides and enhancement of CpC dinucleotides, both within and aross codons. Intense asexual phase gene expression in P. falciparum and P. berghei is associated with increased A3:G3 bias but reduced T3:C3 bias at 2-fold sites, consistent with adaptation of codons to tRNA pools and avoidance of wobble tRNA interactions that potentially slow down translation. In highly expressed genes, the A3:G3 ratio can exceed 30-fold while the T3:C3 ratio can be less than 1, according to the encoded amino acid and subsequent base. Lysine codons (AAA/G) show distinctive behaviour with substantially reduced A3:G3 bias in highly expressed genes, perhaps because of selection against frameshifting when the AAA codon is followed by another adenine. Intense expression is also associated with a strong bias towards TAA stop codons (found in 94% and 89% of highly expressed P. falciparum and P. berghei genes respectively) and a proportional rise in the TAAA stop ‘tetranucleotide’. The presence of these expression-linked effects in the relatively AT-rich malaria parasite species adds weight to the suggestion that AT-richness in the Plasmodium genus might be a fitness adaptation. Potential explanations for the relative lack of codon bias in P. vivax include the distinct features of its lifecycle and its effective population size over evolutionary time.
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Affiliation(s)
- I Sinha
- Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU), Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand.,Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - C J Woodrow
- Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU), Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand. .,Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
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48
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Bruske E, Otto TD, Frank M. Whole genome sequencing and microsatellite analysis of the Plasmodium falciparum E5 NF54 strain show that the var, rifin and stevor gene families follow Mendelian inheritance. Malar J 2018; 17:376. [PMID: 30348135 PMCID: PMC6198375 DOI: 10.1186/s12936-018-2503-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2018] [Accepted: 10/03/2018] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Plasmodium falciparum exhibits a high degree of inter-isolate genetic diversity in its variant surface antigen (VSA) families: P. falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1, repetitive interspersed family (RIFIN) and subtelomeric variable open reading frame (STEVOR). The role of recombination for the generation of this diversity is a subject of ongoing research. Here the genome of E5, a sibling of the 3D7 genome strain is presented. Short and long read whole genome sequencing (WGS) techniques (Ilumina, Pacific Bioscience) and a set of 84 microsatellites (MS) were employed to characterize the 3D7 and non-3D7 parts of the E5 genome. This is the first time that VSA genes in sibling parasites were analysed with long read sequencing technology. Results Of the 5733 E5 genes only 278 genes, mostly var and rifin/stevor genes, had no orthologues in the 3D7 genome. WGS and MS analysis revealed that chromosomal crossovers occurred at a rate of 0–3 per chromosome. var, stevor and rifin genes were inherited within the respective non-3D7 or 3D7 chromosomal context. 54 of the 84 MS PCR fragments correctly identified the respective MS as 3D7- or non-3D7 and this correlated with var and rifin/stevor gene inheritance in the adjacent chromosomal regions. E5 had 61 var and 189 rifin/stevor genes. One large non-chromosomal recombination event resulted in a new var gene on chromosome 14. The remainder of the E5 3D7-type subtelomeric and central regions were identical to 3D7. Conclusions The data show that the rifin/stevor and var gene families represent the most diverse compartments of the P. falciparum genome but that the majority of var genes are inherited without alterations within their respective parental chromosomal context. Furthermore, MS genotyping with 54 MS can successfully distinguish between two sibling progeny of a natural P. falciparum cross and thus can be used to investigate identity by descent in field isolates. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12936-018-2503-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ellen Bruske
- Institute of Tropical Medicine, University of Tuebingen, Wilhelmstr. 27, 72074, Tuebingen, Germany
| | - Thomas D Otto
- Malaria Programme, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, CB10 1SA, UK. .,Centre of Immunobiology, Institute of Infection, Immunity & Inflammation, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.
| | - Matthias Frank
- Institute of Tropical Medicine, University of Tuebingen, Wilhelmstr. 27, 72074, Tuebingen, Germany.
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49
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Molnár P, Marton L, Izrael R, Pálinkás HL, Vértessy BG. Uracil moieties in Plasmodium falciparum genomic DNA. FEBS Open Bio 2018; 8:1763-1772. [PMID: 30410856 PMCID: PMC6212640 DOI: 10.1002/2211-5463.12458] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2018] [Revised: 05/11/2018] [Accepted: 05/21/2018] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Plasmodium falciparum parasites undergo multiple genome duplication events during their development. Within the intraerythrocytic stages, parasites encounter an oxidative environment and DNA synthesis necessarily proceeds under these circumstances. In addition to these conditions, the extreme AT bias of the P. falciparum genome poses further constraints for DNA synthesis. Taken together, these circumstances may allow appearance of damaged bases in the PlasmodiumDNA. Here, we focus on uracil that may arise in DNA either via oxidative deamination or thymine‐replacing incorporation. We determine the level of uracil at the ring, trophozoite, and schizont intraerythrocytic stages and evaluate the base‐excision repair potential of P. falciparum to deal with uracil‐DNA repair. We find approximately 7–10 uracil per million bases in the different parasite stages. This level is considerably higher than found in other wild‐type organisms from bacteria to mammalian species. Based on a systematic assessment of P. falciparum genome and transcriptome databases, we conclude that uracil‐DNA repair relies on one single uracil‐DNA glycosylase and proceeds through the long‐patch base‐excision repair route. Although potentially efficient, the repair route still leaves considerable level of uracils in parasite DNA, which may contribute to mutation rates in P. falciparum.
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Affiliation(s)
- Petra Molnár
- Research Centre for Natural Sciences Institute of Enzymology BME-MTA Malaria Research Laboratory Hungarian Academy of Sciences Budapest Hungary.,Department of Applied Biotechnology and Food Science Budapest University of Technology and Economics Budapest Hungary
| | - Lívia Marton
- Research Centre for Natural Sciences Institute of Enzymology BME-MTA Malaria Research Laboratory Hungarian Academy of Sciences Budapest Hungary
| | - Richard Izrael
- Research Centre for Natural Sciences Institute of Enzymology BME-MTA Malaria Research Laboratory Hungarian Academy of Sciences Budapest Hungary.,Department of Applied Biotechnology and Food Science Budapest University of Technology and Economics Budapest Hungary
| | - Hajnalka L Pálinkás
- Research Centre for Natural Sciences Institute of Enzymology BME-MTA Malaria Research Laboratory Hungarian Academy of Sciences Budapest Hungary.,Doctoral School of Multidisciplinary Medical Science University of Szeged Szeged Hungary
| | - Beáta G Vértessy
- Research Centre for Natural Sciences Institute of Enzymology BME-MTA Malaria Research Laboratory Hungarian Academy of Sciences Budapest Hungary.,Department of Applied Biotechnology and Food Science Budapest University of Technology and Economics Budapest Hungary
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50
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Limited Mutation-Rate Variation Within the Paramecium aurelia Species Complex. G3-GENES GENOMES GENETICS 2018; 8:2523-2526. [PMID: 29794165 PMCID: PMC6027866 DOI: 10.1534/g3.118.200420] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
Mutation is one of the most fundamental evolutionary forces. Studying variation in the mutation rate within and among closely-related species can help reveal mechanisms of genome divergence, but such variation is unstudied in the vast majority of organisms. Previous studies on ciliated protozoa have found extremely low mutation rates. In this study, using mutation-accumulation techniques combined with deep whole-genome sequencing, we explore the germline base-substitution mutation-rate variation of three cryptic species in the Paramecium aurelia species complex—P. biaurelia, P. sexaurelia, and P. tetraurelia. We find that there is extremely limited variation of the mutation rate and spectrum in the three species and confirm the extremely low mutation rate of ciliates.
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