title: How genomics is contributing to the fight against artemisinin-resistant malaria parasites.
abstract: Plasmodium falciparum, the malignant malaria parasite, has developed resistance to artemisinin, the most important and widely used antimalarial drug at present. Currently confined to Southeast Asia, the spread of resistant parasites to Africa would constitute a public health catastrophe. In this review we highlight the recent contributions of genomics to our understanding how the parasite develops resistance to artemisinin and its derivatives, and how resistant parasites may be monitored and tracked in real-time, using molecular approaches.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Genomics and Biotechnology (GenoBio), IPTSP, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia 74605050, GO, Brazil; PPSTMA, Centro Universitário de Anápolis (UniEVANGÉLICA), Anápolis 75083515, GO, Brazil; Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon 1349-008, Portugal. Electronic address: pedrovcravo@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cravo
authors.affiliation: PPSTMA, Centro Universitário de Anápolis (UniEVANGÉLICA), Anápolis 75083515, GO, Brazil; Ciências Exatas e Tecnológicas, Universidade Estadual de Goiás. 459, 75001970 Anápolis, GO, Brazil.
authors.forename: Hamilton
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Napolitano
authors.affiliation: Malaria Unit, Department of Pathology, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki 8528523, Japan.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Culleton
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa; D000818:Animals; D000962:Antimalarials / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D037621:Artemisinins / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001210:Asia, Southeastern; D004351:Drug Resistance / Q000235:genetics*; D023281:Genomics; D006801:Humans; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000469:parasitology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D000962:Antimalarials; D037621:Artemisinins; C031327:artemisinin
keywords: Artemisinin resistance; Genomics; Malaria; Molecular markers; Plasmodium falciparum