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Background  Adhesin proteins are used by  Plasmodium  parasites to bind and invade target cells. Hence, characterising molecules that participate in reticulocyte interaction is key to understanding the molecular basis of  Plasmodium vivax  invasion. This study focused on predicting functionally restricted regions of the  P. vivax  GPI-anchored micronemal antigen ( Pv GAMA) and characterising their reticulocyte binding activity.    Results  The  pvgama  gene was initially found in  P. vivax  VCG-I strain schizonts. According to the genetic diversity analysis,  Pv GAMA displayed a size polymorphism very common for antigenic  P. vivax  proteins. Two regions along the antigen sequence were highly conserved among species, having a negative natural selection signal. Interestingly, these regions revealed a functional role regarding preferential target cell adhesion.    Conclusions  To our knowledge, this study describes  Pv GAMA reticulocyte binding properties for the first time. Conserved functional regions were predicted according to natural selection analysis and their binding ability was confirmed. These findings support the notion that  Pv GAMA may have an important role in  P. vivax  merozoite adhesion to its target cells.    Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13071-017-2183-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

PvGAMA reticulocyte binding activity: predicting conserved functional regions by natural selection analysis