title: Assessing the effect of natural selection in malaria parasites.
abstract: There are few concepts that have been used across disciplines; one of them is natural selection. The impact that this process has on parasite genetic diversity is reviewed here by discussing examples on drug resistance and vaccine antigens. Emphasis is made on how mechanisms need to be addressed rather than associations, and how such investigations were out of reach of biomedical researchers only a decade ago.
authors.affiliation: Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Apartado 21827, Caracas 1020-A, Venezuela. Aescalante@cdc.gov
authors.forename: Ananias A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Escalante
authors.forename: Omar E
authors.initials: OE
authors.lastname: Cornejo
authors.forename: Ascanio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rojas
authors.forename: Venkatachalam
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Udhayakumar
authors.forename: Altaf A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Lal
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D005075:Biological Evolution; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D006801:Humans; D008288:Malaria / Q000276:immunology / Q000469:parasitology*; D017780:Malaria Vaccines / Q000494:pharmacology; D010641:Phenotype; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D012641:Selection, Genetic
chemical_list: D000953:Antigens, Protozoan; D017780:Malaria Vaccines