Parasitology, Harold W. Manter Laboratory of
Document Type
Article
Date of this Version
12-31-1990
Citation
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (1991) 88(8): 3,140-3,144 doi: 10.1073/pnas.88.8.3140.
Abstract
It has been proposed that the acquisition of Plasmodium falciparum by man is a relatively recent event and that the sustained presence of this disease in man is unlikely to have been possible prior to the establishment of agriculture. To establish phylogenetic relationships among the Plasmodum species and to unravel the mystery of the orign of P. fakiparum, we have analyzed and compared phylogenetically the small-subunit ribosomal RNA gene sequences of the species of malaria that infect humans as well as a number of those sequences from species that infect animals. Although this comparison confirmed the three established major subgroups, broadly classed as avian, shimian, and rodent, we rind that the human pathogen P. falciparum is monophyletic with the avian subgroup, indicating that P. falciparum and avian parasites share a relatively recent avian progenitor. The other important human pathogen, P. vivax, is very similar to a representative of the simian group of Plasmodium. The relationship between P. fakiparum and the avian parasites, and the overall phylogeny of the genus, provides evidence of an exception to Farenholz's rule, which propounds synchronous speciation between host and parasite.
Comments
License: CC BY-NC-ND