Whole-genome analysis of Malawian Plasmodium falciparum isolates identifies possible targets of allele-specific immunity to clinical malaria

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1009576
• Publication Date: 2021-05-25T17:32:34Z
• Authors: Zalak Shah; Myo T. Naung; Kara A. Moser; Matthew Adams; Andrea G. Buchwald; Ankit Dwivedi; Amed Ouattara; Karl B. Seydel; Don P. Mathanga; Alyssa E. Barry; David Serre; Miriam K. Laufer; Joana C. Silva; Shannon Takala-Ha...
• Keywords: Adult; Aging; Malawi; Adolescent; Malaria Parasite; Plasmodium falciparum; Immunology; 610; QH426-470; Prediction of Peptide-MHC Binding Affinity; Malaria vaccine; Gene; Young Adult; 03 medical and health sciences; Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology; Virology; 616; Health Sciences; Parasite hosting; Genetics; Humans; Malaria, Falciparum; Global Impact of Arboviral Diseases; Child; Molecular Biology; Biology; Alleles; Allele; 0303 health sciences; Genome; FOS: Clinical medicine; Infant, Newborn; Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health; Immunity; Infant; Life Sciences; Computer science; Malaria; 3. Good health; World Wide Web; Immune system; Child, Preschool; FOS: Biological sciences; Antigen; Medicine; Research Article

Individuals acquire immunity to clinical malaria after repeatedPlasmodium falciparuminfections. Immunity to disease is thought to reflect the acquisition of a repertoire of responses to multiple alleles in diverse parasite antigens. In previous studies, we identified polymorphic sites within individual antigens that are associated with parasite immune evasion by examining antigen allele dynamics in individuals followed longitudinally. Here we expand this approach by analyzing genome-wide polymorphisms using whole genome sequence data from 140 parasite isolates representing malaria cases from a longitudinal study in Malawi and identify 25 genes that encode possible targets of naturally acquired immunity that should be validated immunologically and further characterized for their potential as vaccine candidates.