Clonal Diversity of a Malaria Parasite: Consequences for Parasite Life History, Virulence, and Transmission

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Malaria parasites has a life cycle that involves two hosts, a vertebrate and insect vectors. Different species of malaria can infect humans, lizards or birds. The infection in the vertebrate may consist of a single genetic clone of cells, or a mixture of different clones. This project will use a malaria parasite of lizards to study how the number of parasite clones influences how the infection behaves (the rate of the parasite's reproduction, the number of parasites in the host, and the ratio of male to female parasites), the harm the infection does to the host, and the ability of the parasite to infect a biting insect vector. These effects are currently almost completely unknown.Malaria parasites are of enormous public health importance for humans, and are also important pathogens of wildlife species. For the past century, researchers have assumed that the number of different clones of parasite in an infection is an important factor that determines the harm caused by the parasite. However, suitable genetic markers were not available to identify the number of clones. This research will use markers that have just been discovered for the specific lizard malaria parasite. This study will thus open a novel window into the biology of malaria parasites.