Abstract
BackgroundYunnan and Hainan provinces are the two major endemic regions for Plasmodiumfalciparum malaria in China. However, few studies have investigated the characteristics of this parasite. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the genetic diversity and population structure of P. falciparum to predict the geographic origin of falciparum malaria.MethodsThirteen highly polymorphic microsatellite loci were studied to estimate the genetic diversity and population structure of 425 P. falciparum isolates obtained from blood samples collected from Yunnan and Hainan provinces of South China. The isolates were analysed for genetic diversity, linkage disequilibrium, and population structure. The parasite populations were clustered into two subgroups (i.e., Yunnan and Hainan) and a classification algorithm was used to identify molecular markers for classifying the P. falciparum populations.ResultsAll 13 microsatellite loci were highly polymorphic, with the number of alleles per locus varying from 5 to 20. The mean expected heterozygosity (He) in Yunnan and Hainan was 0.766 ± 0.036 and 0.677 ± 0.039, respectively, revealing a moderate high level of genetic diversity. Significant linkage disequilibrium was found for some regions of Yunnan (Lazan county and Xishuangbanna region) and Hainan (Dongfang city and Sanya city) province. According to the classification algorithm, a combination of three microsatellites could be used as a discriminatory marker to identify the origin of P. falciparum isolates.ConclusionsThe results on the genetic structure of P. falciparum populations from South China provide a basis for developing a genetic marker-based tool to trace the source of the parasite infections and consequently improve malaria control and elimination strategies.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12936-015-0786-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Yunnan and Hainan provinces are the two major endemic regions for Plasmodium falciparum malaria in China
The samples with multiple infections were excluded from the dataset, and the 306 samples with single infection were recruited for population genetic analysis; their allele frequencies per locus are shown in Additional file 2
According to previous studies based on microsatellite loci, these findings could be a result of the levels of malaria endemicity, i.e., the levels of genetic diversity of the parasite populations are higher in high transmission areas than in low transmission areas [19, 20]
Summary
Yunnan and Hainan provinces are the two major endemic regions for Plasmodium falciparum malaria in China. Among the five variants of malaria affecting humans, the disease caused by Plasmodium falciparum (falciparum malaria) is the most severe form and can be fatal [1]. Yunnan province located in southern continent of China, with more than 80% of the population in this province at risk of malaria infection [6] and in the past decade, Yunnan ranked No. in the country in terms of the number of cases [2,3,4]. Hainan province is on the southern coast of China, and account for up to 46% of the annual endemic P. falciparum malaria cases over the past decade [4]. The malaria burden in these regions has significantly decreased of late, imported malaria cases have
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