<i>Plasmodium falciparum</i>is not as lonely as previously considered

Prugnolle, Franck; Ayala, Francisco J.; Ollomo, Benjamin; Arnathau, Céline; Durand, Patrick; Renaud, François

doi:10.4161/viru.2.1.14608

Cited by 11 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Plasmodium falciparum belongs to the subgenus Laverania, which up to 2009 included only two known representatives: P. falciparum and Plasmodium reichenowi , a parasite from chimpanzees. Since 2009, thanks to the use of molecular tools for species identification and the development of non-invasive methods, several studies re-explored the diversity of Plasmodium species circulating in non-human primates in Africa, especially great apes (gorillas and chimpanzees) [ 6 - 8 ]. These studies revealed the existence of several lineages/species related to P. falciparum , deeply modifying the comprehension of the evolution of this parasite and of Laverania more generally.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity of malaria parasites in great apes in Gabon

Boundenga

Ollomo

Rougeron

et al. 2015

Malar J

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BackgroundUntil 2009, the Laverania subgenus counted only two representatives: Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium reichenowi. The recent development of non-invasive methods allowed re-exploration of plasmodial diversity in African apes. Although a large number of great ape populations have now been studied regarding Plasmodium infections in Africa, there are still vast areas of their distribution that remained unexplored. Gabon constitutes an important part of the range of western central African great ape subspecies (Pan troglodytes troglodytes and Gorilla gorilla gorilla), but has not been studied so far. In the present study, the diversity of Plasmodium species circulating in great apes in Gabon was analysed.MethodsThe analysis of 1,261 faecal samples from 791 chimpanzees and 470 gorillas collected from 24 sites all over Gabon was performed. Plasmodium infections were characterized by amplification and sequencing of a portion of the Plasmodium cytochrome b gene.ResultsThe analysis of the 1,261 samples revealed that at least six Plasmodium species circulate in great apes in Gabon (Plasmodium praefalciparum, Plasmodium gorA (syn Plasmodium adleri), Plasmodium gorB (syn Plasmodium blacklocki) in gorillas and Plasmodium gaboni, P. reichenowi and Plasmodium billcollinsi in chimpanzees). No new phylogenetic lineages were discovered. The average infection rate was 21.3% for gorillas and 15.4% for chimpanzees. A logistic regression showed that the probability of infection was significantly dependent on the freshness of the droppings but not of the host species or of the average pluviometry of the months of collection.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity of malaria parasites in great apes in Gabon

Boundenga

Ollomo

Rougeron

et al. 2015

Malar J

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“…The Authors, claimed that human P.falciparum sequences constitute a single lineage nested within the G1 clade of gorilla parasites thus suggesting that human P.falciparum is of gorilla origin and not of chimpanzee 33,34. Moreover, several papers published in 2010, showed that P.falciparum , once considered strictly human specific, can infect bonobos, chimpanzees and gorillas and thus these African apes might serve also as possible reservoir for the malignant form of human malaria 35–38. In this regard, five new phylogenetic species within the Laverania subgenus have been identified in just one year providing a new representation of the phylogeny with two groups.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biology of Human Malaria Plasmodia Including Plasmodium Knowlesi

Antinori

Galimberti

Milazzo

et al. 2012

Mediterr J Hematol Infect Dis

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Malaria is a vector-borne infection caused by unicellular parasite of the genus Plasmodium. Plasmodia are obligate intracellular parasites that are able to infect and replicate within the erythrocytes after a clinically silent replication phase in the liver. Four species (P.falciparum, P.malariae, P.ovale and P.vivax) are traditionally recognized as responsible of natural infection in human beings but the recent upsurge of P.knowlesi malaria in South-East Asia has led clinicians to consider it as the fifth human malaria parasite. Recent studies in wild-living apes in Africa have revealed that P.falciparum, the most deadly form of human malaria, is not only human-host restricted as previously believed and its phylogenetic lineage is much more complex with new species identified in gorilla, bonobo and chimpanzee. Although less impressive, new data on biology of P.malariae, P.ovale and P.vivax are also emerging and will be briefly discussed in this review.

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“…T he most deadly of the malaria parasites, Plasmodium falciparum, is highly divergent from the other species of Plasmodium known to infect humans (1)(2)(3), with its closest relatives comprising a group of chimpanzee and gorilla parasites from the subgenus Laverania (3)(4)(5)(6)(7). Despite the origin of P. falciparum as a zoonosis, and the continuing coexistence of humans and apes in West and Central Africa, extensive field studies have failed to detect P. falciparum in wild-living chimpanzees and gorillas (5).…”

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RH5–Basigin interaction plays a major role in the host tropism of Plasmodium falciparum

Wanaguru¹,

Liu²,

Hahn

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

137

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Plasmodium falciparum, the cause of almost all human malaria mortality, is a member of the Laverania subgenus which infects African great apes. Interestingly, Laverania parasites exhibit strict host specificity in their natural environment: P. reichenowi, P. billcollinsi, and P. gaboni infect only chimpanzees; P. praefalciparum, P. blacklocki, and P. adleri are restricted to gorillas, and P. falciparum is pandemic in humans. The molecular mechanism(s) responsible for these host restrictions are not understood, although the interaction between the parasite blood-stage invasion ligand EBA175 and the host erythrocyte receptor Glycophorin-A (GYPA) has been implicated previously. We reexamined the role of the EBA175-GYPA interaction in host tropism using recombinant proteins and biophysical assays and found that EBA175 orthologs from the chimpanzee-restricted parasites P. reichenowi and P. billcollinsi both bound to human GYPA with affinities similar to that of P. falciparum, suggesting that the EBA175-GYPA interaction is unlikely to be the sole determinant of Laverania host specificity. We next investigated the contribution of the recently discovered Reticulocyte-binding protein Homolog 5 (RH5)-Basigin (BSG) interaction in host-species selectivity and found that P. falciparum RH5 bound chimpanzee BSG with a significantly lower affinity than human BSG and did not bind gorilla BSG, mirroring the known host tropism of P. falciparum. Using site-directed mutagenesis, we identified residues in BSG that are responsible for the species specificity of PfRH5 binding. Consistent with the essential role of the PfRH5-BSG interaction in erythrocyte invasion, we conclude that species-specific differences in the BSG receptor provide a molecular explanation for the restriction of P. falciparum to its human host.surface plasmon resonance | protein interactions T he most deadly of the malaria parasites, Plasmodium falciparum, is highly divergent from the other species of Plasmodium known to infect humans (1-3), with its closest relatives comprising a group of chimpanzee and gorilla parasites from the subgenus Laverania (3-7). Despite the origin of P. falciparum as a zoonosis, and the continuing coexistence of humans and apes in West and Central Africa, extensive field studies have failed to detect P. falciparum in wild-living chimpanzees and gorillas (5). Although there are reports of P. falciparum infecting chimpanzees either in certain captive settings (2) or following splenectomy and deliberate transfer of P. falciparum-infected human blood (8-10), the resulting infections have low parasitemia and are not known to result in malignant tertian malaria, suggesting a host-specific barrier for replete infection. The existence of host-specific barriers within the Laverania subgenus is supported further by the strict host specificity exhibited by ape Laverania parasites in the wild: Plasmodium reichenowi, Plasmodium billcollinsi, and Plasmodium gaboni infect only chimpanzees, and Plasmodium praefalciparum, Plasmodium blacklocki, and Plasm...

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Plasmodium falciparumis not as lonely as previously considered

Cited by 11 publications

References 18 publications

Diversity of malaria parasites in great apes in Gabon

Diversity of malaria parasites in great apes in Gabon

Biology of Human Malaria Plasmodia Including Plasmodium Knowlesi

RH5–Basigin interaction plays a major role in the host tropism of Plasmodium falciparum

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