title: Rodent malaria parasites suffer from the presence of conspecific clones in three-clone Plasmodium chabaudi infections.
abstract: We studied infection dynamics of Plasmodium chabaudi in mice infected with 3 genetically distinct clones--1 less virulent than the other 2--either on their own or in mixtures. During the acute phase of infection, total numbers of asexual parasites in mixed-clone infections were equal to those produced by the 3 clones alone, suggesting strong in-host competition among clones. During the chronic phase of the infection, mixed-clone infections produced more asexual parasites than single-clone infections, suggesting lower levels of competition than during the acute phase, and indicating that a genetically diverse infection is harder to control by the host immune system. Transmission potential over the whole course of infection was lower from mixed-clone infections than from the average of the 3 single-clone infections. These results suggest that in-host competition reduces both growth rate and probability of transmission for individual parasite clones.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology, University of Edinburgh, Ashworth Laboratories, King's Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, Scotland, UK. j.de.roode@ed.ac.uk
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: De Roode
authors.forename: A F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Read
authors.forename: B H K
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Mackinnon
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002999:Clone Cells; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000469:parasitology / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D008288:Malaria / Q000276:immunology / Q000469:parasitology*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018512:Parasitemia / Q000469:parasitology; D016788:Plasmodium chabaudi / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology*; D014774:Virulence; D015431:Weight Loss