23 research outputs found
Analysis of Plasmodium falciparum diversity in natural infections by deep sequencing.
Malaria elimination strategies require surveillance of the parasite population for genetic changes that demand a public health response, such as new forms of drug resistance. Here we describe methods for the large-scale analysis of genetic variation in Plasmodium falciparum by deep sequencing of parasite DNA obtained from the blood of patients with malaria, either directly or after short-term culture. Analysis of 86,158 exonic single nucleotide polymorphisms that passed genotyping quality control in 227 samples from Africa, Asia and Oceania provides genome-wide estimates of allele frequency distribution, population structure and linkage disequilibrium. By comparing the genetic diversity of individual infections with that of the local parasite population, we derive a metric of within-host diversity that is related to the level of inbreeding in the population. An open-access web application has been established for the exploration of regional differences in allele frequency and of highly differentiated loci in the P.âfalciparum genome
Recommended from our members
Educating Medical Students in Laboratory Medicine A Proposed Curriculum
As the 100th anniversary of the Flexner report nears, medical student education is being reviewed at many levels One area of concern, expressed in recent reports from some national health care organizations is the adequacy of training in the discipline of laboratory medicine (also termed clinical pathology) The Academy of Clinical Laboratory Physicians and Scientists is appointed an ad hoc committee to review this topic and to develop a suggested curriculum, which was subsequently forwarded to the entire membership for review The proposed medical student laboratory medicine curriculum defines goals and objectives for training, provides guidelines for instructional methods, and gives examples of how outcomes can be assessed. This curriculum is presented as a potentially helpful outline for use by medical school faculty and curriculum committees