%0 Journal Article
%T Rapid identification of genes controlling virulence and immunity in malaria parasites
%A Abhinay Ramaprasad
%A Arita Acharjee
%A Arnab Pain
%A Augustin Zoungrana
%A Axel Martinelli
%A Christopher J. R. Illingworth
%A Hayato Mitaka
%A Hussein M. Abkallo
%A Jesse Gitaka
%A Jianxia Tang
%A Kazuhide Yahata
%A Megumi Inoue
%A Osamu Kaneko
%A Partha P. Datta
%A Paul Hunt
%A Phonepadith Xangsayarath
%A Richard Carter
%A Richard Culleton
%A Ville Mustonen
%J -
%D 2017
%R 10.1371/journal.ppat.1006447
%X Identifying the genetic determinants of phenotypes that impact disease severity is of fundamental importance for the design of new interventions against malaria. Here we present a rapid genome-wide approach capable of identifying multiple genetic drivers of medically relevant phenotypes within malaria parasites via a single experiment at single gene or allele resolution. In a proof of principle study, we found that a previously undescribed single nucleotide polymorphism in the binding domain of the erythrocyte binding like protein (EBL) conferred a dramatic change in red blood cell invasion in mutant rodent malaria parasites Plasmodium yoelii. In the same experiment, we implicated merozoite surface protein 1 (MSP1) and other polymorphic proteins, as the major targets of strain-specific immunity. Using allelic replacement, we provide functional validation of the substitution in the EBL gene controlling the growth rate in the blood stages of the parasites
%K Plasmodium yoelii
%K Malarial parasites
%K Genetic loci
%K Alleles
%K Malaria
%K Parasitic diseases
%K Cloning
%K Mosquitoes
%U https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1006447