Malian children infected with Plasmodium ovale and Plasmodium falciparum display very similar gene expression profiles.

Plasmodium parasites caused 241 million cases of malaria and over 600,000 deaths in 2020. Both P. falciparum and P. ovale are endemic to Mali and cause clinical malaria, with P. falciparum infections typically being more severe. Here, we sequenced RNA from nine pediatric blood samples collected duri...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
Main Authors: Kieran Tebben, Salif Yirampo, Drissa Coulibaly, Abdoulaye K Koné, Matthew B Laurens, Emily M Stucke, Ahmadou Dembélé, Youssouf Tolo, Karim Traoré, Amadou Niangaly, Andrea A Berry, Bourema Kouriba, Christopher V Plowe, Ogobara K Doumbo, Kirsten E Lyke, Shannon Takala-Harrison, Mahamadou A Thera, Mark A Travassos, David Serre
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2023
Subjects:
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine
RC955-962
Public aspects of medicine
RA1-1270
Arctic
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0010802
https://doaj.org/article/4d89c16db384442da49ce0b6b3e281ca
Description
Summary:Plasmodium parasites caused 241 million cases of malaria and over 600,000 deaths in 2020. Both P. falciparum and P. ovale are endemic to Mali and cause clinical malaria, with P. falciparum infections typically being more severe. Here, we sequenced RNA from nine pediatric blood samples collected during infections with either P. falciparum or P. ovale, and characterized the host and parasite gene expression profiles. We found that human gene expression varies more between individuals than according to the parasite species causing the infection, while parasite gene expression profiles cluster by species. Additionally, we characterized DNA polymorphisms of the parasites directly from the RNA-seq reads and found comparable levels of genetic diversity in both species, despite dramatic differences in prevalence. Our results provide unique insights into host-pathogen interactions during malaria infections and their variations according to the infecting Plasmodium species, which will be critical to develop better elimination strategies against all human Plasmodium parasites.

Similar Items