Genetic diversity of in sub-Saharan Africa: a two-marker genotyping approach for molecular epidemiological studies.

INTRODUCTION

is the most common non-falciparum species in sub-Saharan Africa. Despite this, data on its genetic diversity is scarce. Therefore, we aimed to establish a genotyping approach based on size polymorphic regions that can be easily applied in molecular epidemiological studies.

METHODS

Four potential genotyping markers, Pm02, Pm09, thrombospondin-related anonymous protein (pmtrap), and merozoite surface protein fragment 2 (pmmsp1 F2) were amplified via nested PCR and analysed using automated capillary gel electrophoresis.

RESULTS

We observed the highest allelic diversity for pmtrap (MOI = 1.61) and pmmsp1 F2 (He = 0.81). Further applying the two markers pmtrap and pmmsp1 F2 on a different sample set of 21 positive individuals followed up over one week, we saw a high consistency in their performance. The results show a large complexity and high dynamics of infections in the asymptomatic Gabonese study population.

DISCUSSION

We successfully implemented a new genotyping panel for consisting of only two markers: pmtrap and pmmsp1 F2. It can be easily applied in other settings to investigate the genotype diversity of populations, providing further important data on the molecular epidemiology of this parasite species.