Polymorphism study of rhoptry associated membrane antigen (RAMA) gene of Plasmodium falciparum--a putative vaccine candidate.
The antigenic diversity of Plasmodium falciparum is one of the major obstacles to antimalarial vaccine development. Thus, it becomes obvious to search for a protein that is fairly conserved and is necessary for the parasite to survive in the host cell. Rhoptry associated membrane antigen (RAMA) plays a potential role in parasite biology and invasion. The C-terminal end of RAMA is shown to have protective immune responses and binds to the erythrocyte membrane. In this work, we have studied the polymorphism of RAMA gene in the C-terminal end from 1525 to 3196 nucleotide (nt) in 230 samples. The presence of few variants suggests RAMA to be under a balancing selection. The above criterion of restricted antigenic diversity and a protective immune response towards the C-terminal end makes RAMA a strong vaccine candidate.
Kar
Priyanka
P
Institute of Life Sciences, Nalco Square, Bhubaneswar 751023, India.
Dash
A P
AP
Supakar
Prakash C
PC
D000818:Animals; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan / Q000235:genetics*; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary / Q000235:genetics; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
D000953:Antigens, Protozoan; D016054:DNA, Protozoan; D015800:Protozoan Proteins; C065352:rhoptry associated protein, Plasmodium