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Evidence for mitotic recombination in the sub‐telomeric regions of the Plasmodium falciparum genome, with implications for malaria virulence (1050.8)
Author(s) -
Singhakul Suriya,
Manary Micah,
Winzeler Elizabeth
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.28.1_supplement.1050.8
Subject(s) - subtelomere , biology , mitotic crossover , plasmodium falciparum , genetics , gene , genome , recombination , virulence , malaria , parasite hosting , gene conversion , ploidy , world wide web , computer science , immunology
The var gene family undergoes differential expression in the Plasmodium falciparum parasite, resulting in malaria’s variable presentation to the human immune system. This haploid parasite also undergoes variable recombination between chromosomes. Whole genome sequencing provides evidence that this recombination occurs frequently and in a patterned manner in the subtelomeric regions containing the var genes. PCR amplification of the targeted regions show in‐frame, reproducible recombination in a laboratory setting between the suspected regions, exclusively within the exonic regions of var genes. qPCR data verifies the existence of replacement recombination events, resulting in an amplification of one chromosomal region and corresponding the deletion of another. This data has major implications for understanding malaria virulence patterns and presentation to the immune system, as it appears as if variable recombination is a driven parasite method of inducing variability within var genes.