Research Led by NYU Langone Decodes Genome for Vivax Species of Malaria

By Bob Brody

A team of scientists from around the world has cracked the genetic code for the parasite that is responsible for up to 40 percent of the 515 million annual malaria infections worldwide, according to a cover story in the Oct. 9 issue of the journal Nature.   
    Led by Jane Carlton, a parasitologist from the NYU Langone Medical Center, some 40 researchers sequenced the genome of Plasmodium vivax (P. vivax), one of four malaria parasites that routinely affect humans. P. vivax, which is increasingly resistant to some anti-malarial drugs, is the species most common outside Africa, particularly in Asia and the Americas, including the United States, the site of periodic outbreaks.  
    Vivax malaria, as it is known, is believed more robust and resilient than its cousin, the more deadly malaria species, P. falciparum—and is thus more difficult to eradicate. Distinctively, vivax malaria can be transmitted by mosquitoes in cooler temperatures. It also has a dormant stage that enables it to re-emerge as climates warm, causing relapses of the disease months and even years after a first attack.   
    “This project is a tribute to the collegiality and tenacity of the vivax malaria community,” says Carlton. “They have persevered despite financial tribulations and lack of interest to generate an invaluable resource. These findings will be used by all malariologists for years to come to advance scientific investigation into this neglected species.”
    Symptoms for the two strains of malaria are similar—flu-like, featuring fever and abdominal pain, often leading to severe anemia—and, in children, lifelong learning disabilities. Malaria is a disease of poorer populations, and overall is estimated annually to kill more than a million people worldwide.
    Researchers also identified several pathways in the P. vivax parasite that could eventually be targets for drug treatment. Both P. vivax and P. falciparum vivax are also being studied to identify potential vaccine targets.
    The research is regarded as all the more significant in that P. vivax has long remained little-researched, little-known, and little-understood.  Such neglect is mainly due to the focus on the more deadly malaria species, P. falciparum—P. vivax is seldom lethal—and also because the parasite cannot be grown in a lab setting.  Further, the growing burden of vivax malaria will complicate efforts to control P. falciparum in areas where the two coincide.
    The project that led to the landmark genetic decoding was in the works for a total of six years, involving researchers from England, Spain, Australia and Brazil as well as the United States.  After two years, remaining funds from the P. falciparum genome project were exhausted, and funding from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund and the National Institutes of Health allowed its completion.