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A sub-family of common and highly conserved Plasmodium falciparum var genes

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Since submission of this paper, a paper with essentially identical findings has been published [12].

Acknowledgements

This study received financial support from the Danish Medical Research Council (SSVF; grants 22-00-0215 and 52-00-1086), the Danish Research Council for Development Research (RUF; grants 90839 and 9802405), the Fortüne Programme of the University of Tübingen Medical Faculty (692-0-0/1) and the Commission of the European Communities (grants ERBIC18CT970238, QLK2-CT-1999-01293 and QLK2-CT-2001-01302). Ali Salanti is a Gates Ph.D. scholar supported through the Gates Malaria Partnership. The P.

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    The IEs bind via var2CSA to chondroitin sulfate A, a glycosaminoglycan, expressed on the surface of the syncytiotrophoblast layer lining the placental chorionic villi [3,6]. Since var2CSA is an unusually conserved protein among other PfEMP1s [7], immunity to PM is acquired relatively soon and one or two pregnancies in malaria endemic areas are generally enough to confer protection [8]. Cytoadhesion properties of IEs displaying var2CSA explain the accumulation of IEs in the maternal vascular area of P. falciparum-infected placentas in primiparous women [9].

  • Antigenic Variation and the Genetics and Epigenetics of the PfEMP1 Erythrocyte Surface Antigens in Plasmodium falciparum Malaria

    2011, Advances in Applied Microbiology
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    Almost all 28 P. falciparum telomeres have at least one var gene and additional intrachromosomal clusters of var genes are situated on chromosomes 4, 7, 8, and 12 of the 3D7 isolate (Gardner et al., 2002). Allelic, orthologous relationships between var genes are difficult to discern, with the exception of the var1csa and var2csa PfEMP1 genes, which are the most evolutionarily conserved var genes (Salanti et al., 2002; Sander et al., 2009). The paralogous relationships within gene families has been described as the hallmark of hypervariable malaria VSA, probably deriving from evolutionary expansion of gene families by gene duplication and immunity-driven divergence (Templeton, 2009).

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Note: Nucleotide sequence data reported in this paper have been submitted to the GenBank™, EMBL and DDBJ databases with the accession numbers: AF441836, AF441837, AF441838, AF441839, AF441840, AF441841, AF441842, AF441843, AF441844, AF441845, AF441846, AF441847, AF441848, AF441849, AF441850, AF441851, AF441852, AF411601.

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