Journal article
The origin and age of Plasmodium vivax
Trends in parasitology, Vol.22(12), pp.558-563
2006
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/108852
PMCID: PMC1855252
PMID: 17035086
Abstract
The evolutionary history of
Plasmodium vivax has recently been addressed in terms of its origin as a parasite of humans and the age of extant populations. The consensus is that
P. vivax originated as a result of a host switch from a non-human primate to hominids and that the extant populations did not originate as recently as previously proposed. Here, we show that, in a comparison of parasite isolates from across the world, Asian populations of
P. vivax are the oldest. We discuss how this result, together with the phylogenetic evidence that
P. vivax derived from
Plasmodium found in Southeast Asian macaques, is most simply explained by assuming an Asian origin of this parasite. Nevertheless, the available data show only the tip of the iceberg. We discuss how sampling might affect time estimates to the most recent common ancestor for
P. vivax populations and suggest that spatially explicit estimates are needed to understand the demographic history of this parasite better.
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Details
- Title
- The origin and age of Plasmodium vivax
- Creators
- Omar E Cornejo - Emory University, Program in Population Biology, Ecology and Evolution, Atlanta, GA 20322, USAAnanias A Escalante - School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, PO Box 874501, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
- Publication Details
- Trends in parasitology, Vol.22(12), pp.558-563
- Academic Unit
- Biological Sciences, School of
- Publisher
- Elsevier Ltd
- Identifiers
- 99900547204001842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article