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RESTRICTED GENETIC DIVERSITY OF PLASMODIUM FALCIPARUM MAJOR MEROZOITE SURFACE PROTEIN 1 IN ISOLATES FROM COLOMBIA

The merozoite surface protein 1 (MSP-1) gene of Plasmodium falciparum encodes a major immune target under development as a malaria vaccine. In this study, we typed MSP-1 variable regions of parasites obtained from Buenaventura, Colombia. Four MSP-1 gene types were detected corresponding to prototype and recombinant K1 and MAD20 block 4 sequences. In contrast to variability within block 4, blocks 2, 6, and 16–17 corresponded exclusively to the MAD20 allelic type. Most (80%) blood samples contained multiple MSP-1 gene types. The presence of four MSP-1 variants within block 4 against a MAD20 background indicates that current P. falciparum populations in Buenaventura are derived from parasites expressing K1 and MAD20 alleles, some of which underwent two recombination events within or flanking block 4. Restricted MSP-1 diversity appears to be relatively stable in Buenaventura and suggests that selection has resulted in the dominance of the MAD20 type in most of the polymorphic blocks with the exception of block 4.

Received April 3, 2005. Accepted for publication June 2, 2005.

Acknowledgments: We are indebted to the patients of Buenaventura for their participation in this study. Special thanks are extended to Diana Jurado for laboratory support. Part of the study was developed in the facilities of the Tropical Medicine Research Center in Colombia (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/Tropical Medicine Research Centers contract no. AI-49486-02). We also thank Dr. Benjamin Vine for helpful technical advice, Dr. William Weidanz for providing laboratory supplies, and Drs. Shannon Bennett and Terry Lyttle for advice on data analysis.

Financial support: This study was supported in part by a Fulbright Research Grant and a Gorgas Memorial grant.

^* Address correspondence to Zilka I. Terrientes, Apartado 6-4625, El Dorado, Panama City, Panama. E-mail: zilkat{at}cwpanama.net

Author’s addresses: Zilka I. Terrientes, Apartado 6-4625, El Dorado, Panama City, Panama, Telephone: 507-223-7179, Fax: 507-223-7179, E-mail: zilkat{at}cwpanama.net. Juana Vergara and Sócrates Herrera, Instituto de Inmunología, Edificio de Microbiología, Tercer Piso, Facultad de Salud, Universidad del Valle, Sede San Fernando, Cali, Colombia, Telephone: 57-2-558-1931, Fax: 57-2-5570449, E-mail: sherrera{at}inmuno.org and Malaria Vaccine and Drug Development Center, Carrera 35 No. 4A-53, AA 26020, Cali, Colombia, Telephone: 57-2-558-3937, Fax: 57-2-556-0141. Kenton Kramer and Sandra P. Chang, Department of Tropical Medicine and Medical Microbiology, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 3675 Kilauea Avenue, Honolulu, HI 96816, Telephone: 808-732-1483, Fax: 808-732-1477, E-mails: sandrac{at}hawaii.edu and kramer{at}hawaii.edu.

Reprint requests: Zilka I. Terrientas, Malaria Vaccine and Drug Development Center, Carrera 35 No. 4A-53, Cali, Colombia.