Variant Plasmodium ovale isolated from a patient infected in Ghana

David Tordrup,Felicie F Andersen,Jakob Virenfeldt,Eskild Petersen

doi:10.1186/1475-2875-10-15

David Tordrup, Felicie F Andersen + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-10-15

Copy DOI

Journal: Malaria Journal	Publication Date: Jan 22, 2011
Citations: 28	License type: cc-by

Affiliation: Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus University

Abstract

Recent data have found that Plasmodium ovale can be separated in two distinct species: classic and variant P. ovale based on multilocus typing of different genes. This study presents a P. ovale isolate from a patient infected in Ghana together with an analysis of the small subunit RNA, cytochrome b, cytochrome c oxidase I, cysteine protease and lactate dehydrogenase genes, which show that the sample is a variant P. ovale and identical or highly similar to variant P. ovale isolated from humans in South-East Asia and Africa, and from a chimpanzee in Cameroon. The split between the variant and classic P. ovale is estimated to have occurred 1.7 million years ago.

Highlights

It is usually assumed that the four major human malaria species Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium ovale and Plasmodium malariae have no animal reservoirs and that zoonotic Plasmodium infections in humans are highly unusual
The recent finding that Plasmodium knowlesi is found in several countries in Southeast Asia, where it has been wrongly classified as P. malariae, shows that molecular typing may change the understanding of human malaria as an infection strictly transmitted between humans [1,2]
Characterization of P. ovale from Southeast Asia based on the small subunit rRNA gene and parts of the cysteine protease, ookinete surface protein and cytochrome b genes indicate that P. ovale can be divided into at least two types, classic and variant, which do not differ morphologically [5,6]

Summary

Introduction

It is usually assumed that the four major human malaria species Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium ovale and Plasmodium malariae have no animal reservoirs and that zoonotic Plasmodium infections in humans are highly unusual. The recent finding that Plasmodium knowlesi is found in several countries in Southeast Asia, where it has been wrongly classified as P. malariae, shows that molecular typing may change the understanding of human malaria as an infection strictly transmitted between humans [1,2]. Characterization of P. ovale from Southeast Asia based on the small subunit rRNA gene and parts of the cysteine protease, ookinete surface protein and cytochrome b genes indicate that P. ovale can be divided into at least two types, classic and variant, which do not differ morphologically [5,6]. A recent study of 55 P. ovale isolates from around the world clearly showed that variant and classic P. ovale co-exist and do not recombine [10]

Methods

Results

Conclusion