Population dynamics of Plasmodium vivax polymorphisms in rural Brazilian Amazonia

• Grant number: 10/50333-8
• Support type: Regular Research Grants
• Duration: July 01, 2010 - September 30, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Parasitology
• Principal Investigator: Marcelo Urbano Ferreira
• Grantee: Marcelo Urbano Ferreira
• Home Institution: Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas (ICB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Malaria is a major endemic parasitic diseases in Brazil, with over 300,000 clinical cases recorded in the Amazon Basin in 2009. Nearly 85% of these infections are due to Plasmodium vivax. Understanding how this human pathogen diversifies over time and space is a central issue in Ecology and Population Genetics, with clear implications for designing control strategies. This proposal aims at examining the population dynamics of genetically distinct lineages of P. vivax, characterized with evolutively neutral markers, in two well-defined rural Amazonian communities that differ according to the levels of malaria transmission. We will analyze parasite samples collected during prospective cohort studies carried out in the states of Acre and Amazonas, northwestern Brazil. The first cohort study enrolled 509 subjects that were, followed between 2004 and 20,07 in a relatively old and stable agricultural settlement (Granada) with low levels of malaria transmission; the second cohort comprises some 200 subjects to be followed between 2010 and 2011 (12 months) in a more recent settlement (Remansinho), with substantially higher malaria endemicity. Venous blood samples were or will be collected from subjects presenting with P. vivax during the follow-up. The field P. vivax isolates will be genetically characterized with a set of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in housekeeping genes, which are likely to be free of diversifying selection, distributed across 12 chromosomes of P. vivax. SNPs display lower mutation rates and greater reproducibility, compared to the microsatellite DNA markers that we have used in previous population-based studies, allowing for their use to analyze parasites collected over a wide temporal and geographic range and for comparisons of results obtained by different research groups. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

CARLOS, BIANCA C.; FOTORAN, WESLEY L.; MENEZES, MARIA J.; CABRAL, FERNANDA J.; BASTOS, MARCELE F.; COSTA, FABIO T. M.; SOUSA-NETO, JAYME A.; RIBOLLA, PAULO E. M.; WUNDERLICH, GERHARD; FERREIRA, MARCELO U. Expressed var gene repertoire and variant surface antigen diversity in a shrinking Plasmodium falciparum population. Experimental Parasitology, v. 170, p. 90-99, NOV 2016. Web of Science Citations: 2.

BATISTA, CAMILLA L.; BARBOSA, SUSANA; BASTOS, MELISSA DA SILVA; VIANA, SUSANA ARIANE S.; FERREIRA, MARCELO U. Genetic diversity of Plasmodium vivax over time and space: a community-based study in rural Amazonia. Parasitology, v. 142, n. 2, p. 374-384, FEB 2015. Web of Science Citations: 13.

RODRIGUES, PRISCILA T.; ALVES, JOAO MARCELO P.; MARIA SANTAMARIA, ANA; CALZADA, JOSE E.; XAYAVONG, MANIPHET; PARISE, MONICA; DA SILVA, ALEXANDRE J.; FERREIRA, MARCELO U. Using Mitochondrial Genome Sequences to Track the Origin of Imported Plasmodium vivax Infections Diagnosed in the United States. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, v. 90, n. 6, p. 1102-1108, JUN 2014. Web of Science Citations: 16.