Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0032105
Title: Genetic diversity in new members of the reticulocyte binding protein family in Thai Plasmodium vivax isolates
Authors: Kosaisavee V.
Lek-Uthai U.
Suwanarusk R.
Grüner A.C.
Russell B. 
Nosten F.
Rénia L.
Snounou G. 
Keywords: DNA
protozoal protein
article
controlled study
DNA purification
gene
gene amplification
gene dosage
gene mutation
gene sequence
genetic variability
molecular cloning
nonhuman
nucleotide sequence
Plasmodium vivax
protein family
pseudogene
Pvrbp2a gene
Pvrbp2b gene
Pvrbp2d gene
Pvrbp3 gene
sequence analysis
single nucleotide polymorphism
Thailand
genetics
human
isolation and purification
metabolism
reticulocyte
Plasmodium vivax
Gene Dosage
Genetic Variation
Humans
Plasmodium vivax
Protozoan Proteins
Reticulocytes
Thailand
Issue Date: 2012
Publisher: Public Library of Science
Citation: Kosaisavee V., Lek-Uthai U., Suwanarusk R., Grüner A.C., Russell B., Nosten F., Rénia L., Snounou G. (2012). Genetic diversity in new members of the reticulocyte binding protein family in Thai Plasmodium vivax isolates. PLoS ONE 7 (3) : e32105. ScholarBank@NUS Repository. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0032105
Abstract: Background: Plasmodium vivax merozoites specifically invade reticulocytes. Until recently, two reticulocyte-binding proteins (Pvrbp1 and Pvrbp2) expressed at the apical pole of the P. vivax merozoite were considered to be involved in reticulocyte recognition. The genome sequence recently obtained for the Salvador I (Sal-I) strain of P. vivax revealed additional genes in this family, and in particular Pvrbp2a, Pvrbp2b (Pvrbp2 has been renamed as Pvrbp2c) and two pseudogenes Pvrbp2d and Pvrbp3. It had been previously found that Pvrbp2c is substantially more polymorphic than Pvrbp1. The primary goal of this study was to ascertain the level of polymorphism of these new genes. Methodology/Principal Findings: The sequence of the Pvrbp2a, Pvrbp2b, Pvrbp2d and Pvrbp3 genes were obtained by amplification/cloning using DNA purified from four isolates collected from patients that acquired the infection in the four cardinal regions of Thailand (west, north, south and east). An additional seven isolates from western Thailand were analyzed for gene copy number variation. There were significant polymorphisms exhibited by these genes (compared to the reference Sal-I strain) with the ratio of mutations leading to a non-synonymous or synonymous amino acid change close to 3:1 for Pvrbp2a and Pvrbp2b. Although the degree of polymorphism exhibited by these two genes was higher than that of Pvrbp1, it did not reach the exceptional diversity noted for Pvrbp2c. It was interesting to note that variations in the copy number of Pvrbp2a and Pvrbp2b occurred in some isolates. Conclusions/Significance: The evolution of different members of the Pvrbp2 family and their relatively high degree of polymorphism suggests that the proteins encoded by these genes are important for parasite survival and are under immune selection. Our data also shows that there are highly conserved regions in rbp2a and rbp2b, which might provide suitable targets for future vaccine development against the blood stage of P. vivax. © 2012 Kosaisavee et al.
Source Title: PLoS ONE
URI: https://scholarbank.nus.edu.sg/handle/10635/165576
ISSN: 19326203
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0032105
Appears in Collections:Elements
Staff Publications

Show full item record
Files in This Item:
File Description SizeFormatAccess SettingsVersion 
10_1371_journal_pone_0032105.pdf794.03 kBAdobe PDF

OPEN

NoneView/Download

Google ScholarTM

Check

Altmetric


Items in DSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.