Plasmodium species endemic to wild African apes genome sequencing and assembly. Plasmodium

African apes are endemically infected with at least six Plasmodium species closely related to Plasmodium falciparum, including the precursor to P. falciparum. To elucidate the evolutionary and mechanistic processes that led to the emergence of P. falciparum, we have sequenced the genomes of close relatives that infect wild living chimpanzees.