Understanding the evolution and host adaption in the Plasmodium laverania clade. Laverania Diversity Study

Plasmodium falciparum, the most virulent agent of human malaria, evolved from the gorilla parasite P. praefalciparum. Although there are a further two gorilla- and four chimpanzee-infective species closely related to P. falciparum (the Laverania subgenus), there is no evidence to date that these parasites are able to maintain infections in the more abundant host species - us humans. To elucidate the evolutionary history and to unravel the mechanisms underlying host adaptation in this subgenus we have sequenced and analysed the genomes from six laverania species in this project. Through sanatory controls, we obtained fresh blood samples. We were able to obtain high-quality draft genome sequences covering most of the genes for each species, including the subtelomeres using different whole genome amplification methods and Pacific Biosciences sequencing.