Geographical origin of Plasmodium vivax in the Republic of Korea: haplotype network analysis based on the parasite's mitochondrial genome.
BACKGROUND
The Republic of Korea (South Korea) is one of the countries where vivax malaria had been successfully eradicated by the late 1970s. However, re-emergence of vivax malaria in South Korea was reported in 1993. Several epidemiological studies and some genetic studies using antigenic molecules of Plasmodium vivax in the country have been reported, but the evolutionary history of P. vivax has not been fully understood. In this study, the origin of the South Korean P. vivax population was estimated by molecular phylogeographic analysis.


METHODS
A haplotype network analysis based on P. vivax mitochondrial (mt) DNA sequences was conducted on 11 P. vivax isolates from South Korea and another 282 P. vivax isolates collected worldwide.


RESULTS
The network analysis of P. vivax mtDNA sequences showed that the coexistence of two different groups (A and B) in South Korea. Groups A and B were identical or close to two different populations in southern China.


CONCLUSIONS
Although the direct introduction of the two P. vivax populations in South Korea were thought to have been from North Korea, the results of this analysis suggest the genealogical origin to be the two different populations in southern China.
Iwagami
Moritoshi
M
Department of Tropical Medicine and Malaria, Research Institute, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, 1-21-1 Toyama, Shinjuku, Tokyo 162-8665, Japan.
Hwang
Seung-Young
SY
Fukumoto
Megumi
M
Hayakawa
Toshiyuki
T
Tanabe
Kazuyuki
K
Kim
So-Hee
SH
Kho
Weon-Gyu
WG
Kano
Shigeyuki
S
D001483:Base Sequence; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D054629:Genome, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D005843:Geography; D006239:Haplotypes / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D016780:Malaria, Vivax / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000469:parasitology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D010966:Plasmodium vivax / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011157:Population Dynamics; D056910:Republic of Korea; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA