Origin of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum in gorillas

Weimin Liu, Yingying Li, Gerald H. Learn, Rebecca S. Rudicell, Joel D. Robertson, Brandon F. Keele, Jean-Bosco N. Ndjango, Crickette M. Sanz, David B. Morgan, Sabrina Locatelli, Mary K. Gonder, Philip J. Kranzusch, Peter D. Walsh, Eric Delaporte, Eitel Mpoudi-Ngole, Alexander V. Georgiev, Martin N. Muller, George M. Shaw, Martine Peeters, Paul M. Sharp, Julian C. Rayner and Beatrice H. Hahn ()
Additional contact information
Weimin Liu: University of Alabama at Birmingham
Yingying Li: University of Alabama at Birmingham
Gerald H. Learn: University of Alabama at Birmingham
Rebecca S. Rudicell: University of Alabama at Birmingham
Joel D. Robertson: University of Alabama at Birmingham
Brandon F. Keele: University of Alabama at Birmingham
Jean-Bosco N. Ndjango: Faculty of Sciences, University of Kisangani, Kisangani, BP 2012, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Crickette M. Sanz: Washington University
David B. Morgan: Congo Program, Wildlife Conservation Society, Brazzaville, BP 14537, Republic of the Congo
Sabrina Locatelli: University at Albany, State University of New York
Mary K. Gonder: University at Albany, State University of New York
Philip J. Kranzusch: Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
Peter D. Walsh: VaccinApe
Eric Delaporte: Institut de Recherche pour le Développement and University of Montpellier 1
Eitel Mpoudi-Ngole: Institut de Recherches Médicales et d’Etudes des Plantes Médicinales Prévention du Sida au Cameroun, Centre de Recherche Médicale, BP 906, Yaoundé, République du Cameroun
Alexander V. Georgiev: Harvard University
Martin N. Muller: University of New Mexico
George M. Shaw: University of Alabama at Birmingham
Martine Peeters: Institut de Recherche pour le Développement and University of Montpellier 1
Paul M. Sharp: Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Centre for Immunity, Infection and Evolution, University of Edinburgh
Julian C. Rayner: University of Alabama at Birmingham
Beatrice H. Hahn: University of Alabama at Birmingham

Nature, 2010, vol. 467, issue 7314, 420-425

Abstract: Abstract Plasmodium falciparum is the most prevalent and lethal of the malaria parasites infecting humans, yet the origin and evolutionary history of this important pathogen remain controversial. Here we develop a single-genome amplification strategy to identify and characterize Plasmodium spp. DNA sequences in faecal samples from wild-living apes. Among nearly 3,000 specimens collected from field sites throughout central Africa, we found Plasmodium infection in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and western gorillas (Gorilla gorilla), but not in eastern gorillas (Gorilla beringei) or bonobos (Pan paniscus). Ape plasmodial infections were highly prevalent, widely distributed and almost always made up of mixed parasite species. Analysis of more than 1,100 mitochondrial, apicoplast and nuclear gene sequences from chimpanzees and gorillas revealed that 99% grouped within one of six host-specific lineages representing distinct Plasmodium species within the subgenus Laverania. One of these from western gorillas comprised parasites that were nearly identical to P. falciparum. In phylogenetic analyses of full-length mitochondrial sequences, human P. falciparum formed a monophyletic lineage within the gorilla parasite radiation. These findings indicate that P. falciparum is of gorilla origin and not of chimpanzee, bonobo or ancient human origin.

Date: 2010
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature09442 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:467:y:2010:i:7314:d:10.1038_nature09442

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/nature09442

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().