Multiple independent introductions of Plasmodium falciparum in South America.

Erhan Yalcindag (1) , Eric Elguero (1) , Céline Arnathau (2) , Durand Patrick (2) , Jean Akiana (3) , Timothy J Anderson (4) , Agnès Aubouy (5) , François Balloux (6) , Patrick Besnard (7) , Hervé Bogreau (8) , Pierre Carnevale (9) , Umberto d'Alessandro (10) , Didier Fontenille (1) , Dionicia Gamboa (11) , Thibaut Jombart (6) , Jacques Le Mire (7) , Eric M. Leroy (12, 13, 14) , Amanda Maestre (15) , Mayfong Mayxay (16) , Didier Ménard (17) , Lise Musset (18, 19, 20) , Paul N Newton (16) , Dieudonné Nkoghé (13, 14) , Oscar Noya (21, 22) , Benjamin Ollomo (13, 14) , Christophe Rogier (8) , Vincent Veron (23) , Albina Wide (21, 22) , Sedigheh Zakeri (24) , Bernard Carme (23) , Eric Legrand (18, 19, 20) , Christine Chevillon (25) , Francisco J Ayala (26) , François Renaud (1) , Franck Prugnolle (1)

1 MIVEGEC - Maladies infectieuses et vecteurs : écologie, génétique, évolution et contrôle
2 MIVEGEC-HEAT - Health, Emergence, Adaptation and Transmission
3 Service Epidémiologie Moléculaire et Parasitaire
4 Department of Genetics
5 PHARMA-DEV - Pharmacochimie et Biologie pour le Développement
6 Medical Research Council Centre for Outbreak Analysis and Modelling
7 Malaria Control Program
8 URMITE - Unité de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes
9 IRD [France-Sud] - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement
10 Department of Parasitology
11 IMT AvH - Instituto de Medicina Tropical "Alexander von Humboldt"
12 MIVEGEC-VIROZ - Zoonoses virales et MTN
13 CIRMF - Centre International de Recherches Médicales de Franceville
14 EPV - Emergence des Pathologies Virales
15 Grupo Salud y Comunidad
16 Wellcome Trust-Mahosot Hospital-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Collaboration
17 Institut Pasteur du Cambodge
18 Institut Pasteur de la Guyane
19 Laboratoire de Parasitologie [Cayenne, Guyane française]
20 CNR - Centre National de Référence du Paludisme [Cayenne, Guyane française]
21 Centro para Estudios Sobre Malaria [Venezuela]
22 IMT - Instituto de Medicina Tropical [Caracas, Venezuela}
23 CIC - Antilles Guyane - Centre d'Investigation Clinique Antilles-Guyane
24 Institut Pasteur d'Iran
25 MIVEGEC-EVCO - Evolution of host-microbe communities
26 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

The origin of Plasmodium falciparum in South America is controversial. Some studies suggest a recent introduction during the European colonizations and the transatlantic slave trade. Other evidence--archeological and genetic--suggests a much older origin. We collected and analyzed P. falciparum isolates from different regions of the world, encompassing the distribution range of the parasite, including populations from sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and South America. Analyses of microsatellite and SNP polymorphisms show that the populations of P. falciparum in South America are subdivided in two main genetic clusters (northern and southern). Phylogenetic analyses, as well as Approximate Bayesian Computation methods suggest independent introductions of the two clusters from African sources. Our estimates of divergence time between the South American populations and their likely sources favor a likely introduction from Africa during the transatlantic slave trade.

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]; Microbiology and Parasitology; Parasitology

Erhan Yalcindag, Eric Elguero, Céline Arnathau, Durand Patrick, Jean Akiana, et al.. Multiple independent introductions of Plasmodium falciparum in South America.. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2012, 109 (2), pp.511-6. ⟨10.1073/pnas.1119058109⟩. ⟨pasteur-00705564⟩