RNA-seq of Plasmodium falciparum for comparative analysis of clinical isolates with severe and uncomplicated malaria.

Genome wide transcriptome analyses could reveal whether parasites causing severe malarial disease express different genes to those causing uncomplicated malaria. This knowledge could inform therapy and vaccine design targeting severe disease. Venous samples were collected from patients with severe (n=23) and uncomplicated (n=21) malaria attending a healthcare facility in Timika, Papua Province, Indonesia. This area has unstable malaria transmission with estimated annual parasite incidence of 450 per 1000 population and symptomatic illness in all ages. Severe malaria was defined as peripheral parasitaemia with at least one modified World Health Organization (WHO) criterion of severity. Erythrocytes were immediately isolated from whole blood, solubilised in RNA preservative and frozen. Libraries were 100 bp paired end sequenced on a 2500-HT Hiseq (Illumina) using RapidRun chemistry (Illumina).