A genomic resource for the Plasmodium vinckei clade of rodent malaria parasites

Rodent malaria parasites (RMPs) serve as tractable models for experimental genetics inmalaria and as valuable tools to study malaria biology and host-parasite- vectorinteractions. Plasmodium vinckei, one of the four RMP species, is the mostgeographically widespread species with considerable phenotypic and genotypic diversityamong the P. vinckei subspecies and strains, making them suitable to evaluate asmodels to study malaria biology, using classical genetics and genomics-drivenapproaches. To date, there has been no systematic effort to phenotypically andgenotypically characterize the P. vinckei parasites, hampering its use as an experimentalmodel for malaria. Here, we have studied the phenotypes and sequenced the genomesand transcriptomes of 11 P. vinckei isolates spanning its five subspecies, and which werecollected from sub-Saharan Central Africa between late 1940s and mid 1960s.isolates