Pooled amplicon deep sequencing of candidate plasmodium falciparum transmission-blocking vaccine antigens

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

1-1-2016

Journal

American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

Volume

94

Issue

1

DOI

10.4269/ajtmh.15-0571

Abstract

© 2016 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Polymorphisms within Plasmodium falciparum vaccine candidate antigens have the potential to compromise vaccine efficacy. Understanding the allele frequencies of polymorphisms in critical binding regions of antigens can help in the designing of strain-transcendent vaccines. Here, we adopt a pooled deep-sequencing approach, originally designed to study P. falciparum drug resistance mutations, to study the diversity of two leading transmission-blocking vaccine candidates, Pfs25 and Pfs48/45. We sequenced 329 P. falciparum field isolates from six different geographic regions. Pfs25 showed little diversity, with only one known polymorphism identified in the region associated with binding of transmission-blocking antibodies among our isolates. However, we identified four new mutations among eight non-synonymous mutations within the presumed antibody-binding region of Pfs48/45. Pooled deep sequencing provides a scalable and cost-effective approach for the targeted study of allele frequencies of P. falciparum candidate vaccine antigens.

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS