Abstract
Blood samples were collected from 12 residents of 4 villages in the Oksibil area of Irian Jaya. Eleven patients were positive for Plasmodium falciparum infection as evidenced by successful amplification of the MSA-2 gene by the polymerase chain reaction. Two patients showed evidence of infection by 2 strains of Plasmodium falciparum. All MSA2 genes were completely sequenced and all could be assigned to one of the two major allelic families of MSA-2, however all MSA-2 gene sequences differed from previously described alleles. Five new allelic forms were identified, one of which was present in 8 of the 11 patients. Within small natural populations of P. falciparum, it appears that variation in MSA-2 approximates that seen world-wide. All samples were also analysed by hybridisation of amplified DNA to family specific probes and all samples hybridised to known probes. Our results demonstrate that there is a degree of microheterogeneity of MSA-2 that is undetectable by hybridisation studies alone.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 13-21 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology |
| Volume | 63 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jan 1994 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Allelic variant
- Irian Jaya
- Merozoite surface antigen 2 (MSA-2)
- Nucleotide sequencing
- Oligonucleotide probe
- Plasmodium falciparum