Genetic Diversity and Multiplicity of Infection in Plasmodium Falciparum Isolates Causing Uncomplicated Malaria Infections in North-East India

Understanding the genetic diversity of Plasmodium falciparum still remains a major obstacle in developing effective malaria control strategies in different geographical regions of North East India. The study was aimed to determine the genetic diversity of P. falciparum merozoite surface protein 1 (mspl) and 2 (msp2) and multiplicity of infection (MOl) from uncomplicated malaria patients from the states of Assam, Manipur and Meghalaya in North East India. A total of sixty six P. falciparum isolates from uncomplicated malaria patients attending various public health centers of northeastern states were collected from September 2015 to December 2018 prior to treatment. Parasite DNA was extracted and mspl and msp2 gene frequencies and diversity were analyzed using allele-specific nested PCR assay followed by sequencmg. Analysis of mspl alleles revealed that Kl allelic family was predominant with 33.34% followed by MAD20 at 18.18%% and R033 at 9.09% respectively. In msp2, the 3D7 family was most highly represented with 50% prevalence against 31.81% for FC27. Multiclonal infections were observed with 26 (39.40%) and 12 (18.18%) patients harboring more than one parasite genotype followed by MOl at 1.12 and 0.95 for mspl and msp2 genes respectively. The present study showed the highest genetic diversity in P. falciparum infected patients in Assam state with multiple clones followed by Meghalaya and Manipur indicating gene flow between the parasite populations within the states due to frequent human migration.