Emerg Infect Dis. 2020 Aug;26(8):1749-1758. doi: 10.3201/eid2608.190864.
Most malaria in Malaysia is caused by Plasmodium knowlesi parasites through zoonotic infection from macaque reservoir hosts. We obtained genome sequences from 28 clinical infections in Peninsular Malaysia to clarify the emerging parasite population structure and test for evidence of recent adaptation. The parasites all belonged to a major genetic population of P. knowlesi (cluster 3) with high genomewide divergence from populations occurring in Borneo (clusters 1 and 2). We also observed unexpected local genetic subdivision; most parasites belonged to 2 subpopulations sharing a high level of diversity except at particular genomic regions, the largest being a region of chromosome 12, which showed evidence of recent directional selection. Surprisingly, we observed a third subpopulation comprising P. knowlesi infections that were almost identical to each other throughout much of the genome, indicating separately maintained transmission and recent genetic isolation. Each subpopulation could evolve and present a broader health challenge in Asia.
马来西亚的大多数疟疾是由疟原虫通过从猕猴储主动物的动物传染病引起的。我们从马来西亚半岛的 28 例临床感染中获得了基因组序列，以阐明新兴寄生虫种群结构，并检测最近适应的证据。这些寄生虫都属于疟原虫的一个主要遗传种群（群 3），与在婆罗洲（群 1 和 2）发生的种群相比，具有很高的全基因组差异。我们还观察到出乎意料的本地遗传细分；大多数寄生虫属于 2 个亚种群，除了在特定基因组区域外，它们共享高水平的多样性，最大的是染色体 12 的一个区域，该区域显示出最近的定向选择的证据。令人惊讶的是，我们观察到了第三个亚种群，其中包含的疟原虫感染在整个基因组的大部分区域几乎完全相同，表明单独维持的传播和最近的遗传隔离。每个亚种群都可以进化，并在亚洲带来更广泛的健康挑战。
