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A Large Plasmodium vivax Reservoir and Little Population Structure in the South Pacific

journal contribution
posted on 2013-06-01, 00:00 authored by C Koepfli, L Timinao, T Antao, Alyssa BarryAlyssa Barry, P Siba, I Mueller, I Felger
Introduction:The importance of Plasmodium vivax in malaria elimination is increasingly being recognized, yet little is known about its population size and population genetic structure in the South Pacific, an area that is the focus of intensified malaria control.Methods:We have genotyped 13 microsatellite markers in 295 P. vivax isolates from four geographically distinct sites in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and one site from Solomon Islands, representing different transmission intensities.Results:Diversity was very high with expected heterozygosity values ranging from 0.62 to 0.98 for the different markers. Effective population size was high (12′872 to 19′533 per site). In PNG population structuring was limited with moderate levels of genetic differentiation. FST values (adjusted for high diversity of markers) were 0.14-0.15. Slightly higher levels were observed between PNG populations and Solomon Islands (FST = 0.16).Conclusions:Low levels of population structure despite geographical barriers to transmission are in sharp contrast to results from regions of low P. vivax endemicity. Prior to intensification of malaria control programs in the study area, parasite diversity and effective population size remained high. © 2013 Koepfli et al.

History

Journal

PLoS ONE

Volume

8

Issue

6

Article number

e66041

Pagination

1 - 9

Publisher

Public Library of Science

Location

San Francisco, Calif.

eISSN

1932-6203

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal