Copy number variation in ex vivo P. falciparum from High vs Low transmission areas in east Africa

The aim of this study was to describe gene copy number variation in Plasmodium falciparum parasites sourced from high vs. low malaria transmission settings in east Africa in order to test the hypothesis that malaria parasites are locally adapted to their environment. In three separate experiments, parasites from ‘High’ vs. ‘Low’ transmission populations were taken from non-immune children and evaluated for copy number variants by microarray against a reference genome. Two of these population comparisons were geographic in nature while the third was temporal, i.e., before and after a marked decline in malaria. This study is described in Simam et al. 2018 BMC Genomics. 183 parasite isolates samples were analysed. These derived from children below 13 years of age with three or fewer previous clinical episodes of malaria who were diagnosed with uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria at hospitals and dispensaries in western Kenya (2008, Kisumu), coastal Kenya (Kilifi, in 1994-1996 and in 2010-2012) and eastern Sudan (2007) which have long-term high, medium and low malaria transmission intensities, respectively. DNA material was collected from each sample immediately ex vivo, i.e., without further replication cycles in in vitro culture.