Genetic diversity of Merozoite Surface Protein-1 gene block 2 allelic types in Plasmodium falciparum isolates from Malaysia and Thailand.

Malaria is the most common vector-borne parasitic disease in Malaysia and Thailand, especially in Malayan Borneo and along the Thailand border areas, but little is known about the genetic diversity of the parasite. Present study aims to investigate the genetic diversity of Plasmodium falciparum isolates in these two countries and eventually contributes to more effective malaria control strategies, particularly in vaccine and antimalarial treatment. One hundred and seventy three P. falciparum isolates were collected from Malaysia (n = 67) and Thailand (n = 106) and genotyped using nested PCR targeting the polymorphic region of MSP-1, block 2. Sequence analysis was conducted to investigate the allele diversity of the isolates. Three allelic families were identified in Malaysian and Thailand P. falciparum isolates, MAD20, K1 and RO33. Sequence analysis revealed that there were 5 different MAD20, 1 K1 and 2 different RO33 for Malaysian isolates. Thailand isolates exhibited greater polymorphism because there were 13 different MAD20, 6 different K1 and 2 different RO33 identified in this study. Multiclonal infections were observed for the isolates in both countries, however, low multiplicity of infection (MOI) was observed for Malaysian (1.1) and Thailand (1.2) isolates. Phylogenetic analysis showed that P. falciparum isolates of Malaysia and Thailand were clustered in the same group for all the allelic families. Population structure of P. falciparum isolates in Malaysia and Thailand exhibit extensive genetic polymorphism but showed high similarities as well as comparable MOI.