Genetic polymorphism of the extracellular region in surface associated interspersed 1.1 gene of Plasmodium falciparum field isolates from Thailand

Abstract

Highlights The regions of SURFIN1.1 were identified: SURFIN1.1 is comprised of extracellular, transmembrane (TM), and intracellular regions. Nucleotide and amino acid sequences of the extracellular region of P. falciparum SURFIN1.1 from a total of 31 field isolates were obtained and analyzed for genetic polymorphism: six different haplotypes were identified. The extracellular region of the SURFIN1.1 among field isolates was conserved, especially in the cysteine-rich domain (CRD) sub-region. High polymorphism was shown in the variable region 2 (Var2), followed by N-terminal (N-ter) and variable region 1 (Var1), respectively. The findings presented herein may enable the discovery and development of a novel SURFIN-based vaccine for prevention and control of malaria.

Keywords

• Malaria
• Plasmodium falciparum
• Gene polymorphism
• Variable surface antigens
• SURFIN
• Surf gene