Walliker D, Waters A P
Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology, University of Edinburgh, UK.
Parassitologia. 1999 Sep;41(1-3):125-7.
We provide a brief commentary on aspects of the analysis of the genetics and evolution of malaria parasites. Any attempt to understand the nature and manifestations of an infectious disease requires an understanding of the genetics of both pathogen and host. The outcome of a malaria infection, i.e. whether it is asymptomatic, mild, severe or causes cerebral malaria, is due to a complex interaction between the products of parasite and host genes. In general terms, genes in the parasite determine its ability to infect the host, its virulence, etc., while host genes will determine resistance or susceptibility to infection. More than this, however, genetics is about the spread of genes in populations, how they mutate and recombine to produce novel genotypes, and how the parasite and its hosts co-evolve with changing environments. This is a complex subject, and we present some discussion of a few aspects of its analysis.
我们对疟原虫的遗传学和进化分析的各个方面进行简要评论。任何试图了解传染病的性质和表现的尝试都需要了解病原体和宿主的遗传学。疟疾感染的结果，即它是无症状的、轻度的、严重的还是导致脑型疟疾，是由于寄生虫和宿主基因产物之间的复杂相互作用。一般来说，寄生虫中的基因决定了它感染宿主的能力、毒力等，而宿主基因将决定对感染的抵抗力或易感性。然而，除此之外，遗传学还涉及基因在种群中的传播、它们如何突变和重组以产生新的基因型，以及寄生虫及其宿主如何随着环境变化而共同进化。这是一个复杂的主题，我们对其分析的几个方面进行了一些讨论。
