The circumsporozoite protein (CSP), sporozoite’s major surface protein comprises a
central repeat (CR) region, flanked with two conserved domains (Coppi et al., 2011). The
protein is diverse across all Plasmodium species and consists of tandem arrays of
relatively short amino acid motifs (Brito and Ferreira, 2011). P. vivax CSP (PvCSP)
displays two major types of peptide repeat motifs (PRMs), each consisting of nine amino
acids, GDRA[D/A]GQPA and ANGAGNQPG, defining variants VK210 and VK247,
respectively (Rosenberg et al., 1989). Both variants are globally distributed, but
geographic biases have been described (Leclerc et al., 2004).
We investigated the genetic diversity of Pvcsp in Sri Lanka, where low transmission and
unstable malaria prevails. Local and global P. vivax isolates were analyzed for patterns of
sequence variation in the csp gene by examining the polymorphism of the PRMs and the
evolutionary relationships of the Pvcsp worldwide isolates were traced.
Introduction
The circumsporozoite protein (CSP), sporozoite’s major surface protein comprises a
central repeat (CR) region, flanked with two conserved domains (Coppi et al., 2011). The
protein is diverse across all Plasmodium species and consists of tandem arrays of
relatively short amino acid motifs (Brito and Ferreira, 2011). P. vivax CSP (PvCSP)
displays two major types of peptide repeat motifs (PRMs), each consisting of nine amino
acids, GDRA[D/A]GQPA and ANGAGNQPG, defining variants VK210 and VK247,
respectively (Rosenberg et al., 1989). Both variants are globally distributed, but
geographic biases have been described (Leclerc et al., 2004).
We investigated the genetic diversity of Pvcsp in Sri Lanka, where low transmission and
unstable malaria prevails. Local and global P. vivax isolates were analyzed for patterns of
sequence variation in the csp gene by examining the polymorphism of the PRMs and the
evolutionary relationships of the Pvcsp worldwide isolates were traced.
