Ongoing host-shift speciation in Plasmodium simium

Thaís C de Oliveira; Priscila T Rodrigues; Ana Maria R C Duarte; Luísa D P Rona; Marcelo U Ferreira

doi:10.1016/j.pt.2021.08.005

Ongoing host-shift speciation in Plasmodium simium

Trends Parasitol. 2021 Nov;37(11):940-942. doi: 10.1016/j.pt.2021.08.005. Epub 2021 Sep 14.

Authors

Thaís C de Oliveira¹, Priscila T Rodrigues¹, Ana Maria R C Duarte², Luísa D P Rona³, Marcelo U Ferreira⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Parasitology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
² Laboratory of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Superintendency for the Control of Endemic Diseases (SUCEN), State Secretary of Health, São Paulo, Brazil; Laboratory of Protozoology, Institute of Tropical Medicine of São Paulo, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
³ Department of Cell Biology, Embryology, and Genetics, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil; National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, National Institute of Science and Technology in Molecular Entomology, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
⁴ Department of Parasitology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; Global Health and Tropical Medicine, Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Nova University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal. Electronic address: muferrei@usp.br.

PMID: 34535396
DOI: 10.1016/j.pt.2021.08.005

Abstract

Plasmodium simium, a malaria parasite that infects platyrrhine monkeys and humans in the New World, is nearly identical to Plasmodium vivax. Recent genomic comparative analyses of these sister species have identified elevated divergence in a gene that may underlie P. simium adaptation to non-human primates during its gradual speciation process.

Keywords: Brazil; Plasmodium simium; platyrrhine monkeys; zoonotic malaria.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Forests
Malaria* / parasitology
Plasmodium vivax / genetics
Plasmodium* / genetics
Primates