title: Age of the last common ancestor of extant Plasmodium parasite lineages.
abstract: Parasites of the genus Plasmodium infect all classes of amniotes (mammals, birds and reptiles) and display host specificity in their infections. It is therefore generally believed that Plasmodium parasites co-evolved intimately with their hosts. Here, we report that based on an evolutionary analysis using 22 genes in the nuclear genome, extant lineages of Plasmodium parasites originated roughly in the Oligocene epoch after the emergence of their hosts. This timing on the age of the common ancestor of extant Plasmodium parasites suggest the importance of host switches and lends support to the evolutionary scenario of a "malaria big bang" that was proposed based on the evolutionary analysis using the mitochondrial genome.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Malariology, International Research Center of Infectious Diseases, Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan. thayakawa@pri.kyoto-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Toshiyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hayakawa
authors.forename: Shin-Ichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tachibana
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hikosaka
authors.forename: Nobuko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Arisue
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Matsui
authors.forename: Toshihiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Horii
authors.forename: Kazuyuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tanabe
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002952:Citric Acid Cycle / Q000235:genetics; D045222:Electron Transport Chain Complex Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D053476:Extinction, Biological; D017125:Genes, Protozoan; D049810:Genetic Speciation; D054629:Genome, Mitochondrial; D006019:Glycolysis / Q000235:genetics; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008957:Models, Genetic; D010802:Phylogeny; D010961:Plasmodium / Q000235:genetics*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D045222:Electron Transport Chain Complex Proteins