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

疟疾寄生虫的生命周期涉及两种宿主，一种脊椎动物和昆虫媒介。不同种类的疟疾可以感染人类、蜥蜴或鸟类。脊椎动物的感染可能由单个细胞的基因克隆组成，也可能是不同克隆的混合。这个项目将使用一种蜥蜴的疟疾寄生虫来研究寄生虫克隆的数量如何影响感染行为(寄生虫的繁殖率、宿主中的寄生虫数量和寄生虫的雄性与雌性的比例)、感染对宿主的危害，以及寄生虫感染叮咬昆虫媒介的能力。这些影响目前几乎完全未知。疟疾寄生虫对人类具有巨大的公共卫生重要性，也是野生动物物种的重要病原体。在过去的一个世纪里，研究人员一直认为，寄生虫在一次感染中不同克隆的数量是决定寄生虫造成的危害的重要因素。然而，没有合适的遗传标记来鉴定克隆的数量。这项研究将使用刚刚发现的针对特定蜥蜴疟疾寄生虫的标记。因此，这项研究将为了解疟疾寄生虫的生物学打开一扇新的窗口。

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.