Evolution of tandem repeats in putative circumsporozoite protein to enhance its function: A recent and exclusive event in Plasmodium vivax in India

Background: The hitchhiking model of molecular evolution proposes that linked non-coding regions also undergo fixation, while fixing a beneficial allele in a population. This concept can be applied to identify loci with functional and evolutionary significance. Putative circumsporozoite protein in P...

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Main Authors: Manoswini Dash, Veena Pande, Aparup Das, Abhinav Sinha
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-01-01
Series:Current Research in Microbial Sciences
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666517425000938
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author Manoswini Dash
Veena Pande
Aparup Das
Abhinav Sinha
author_facet Manoswini Dash
Veena Pande
Aparup Das
Abhinav Sinha
author_sort Manoswini Dash
collection DOAJ
description Background: The hitchhiking model of molecular evolution proposes that linked non-coding regions also undergo fixation, while fixing a beneficial allele in a population. This concept can be applied to identify loci with functional and evolutionary significance. Putative circumsporozoite protein in Plasmodium vivax (PvpuCSP) identified following the molecular hitchhiking model, holds evolutionary significance. Methods: We investigated the extent of genetic polymorphism in PvpuCSP and the role of natural selection which shapes the genetic composition and maintains the diversity in P. vivax isolates from India. Results: Sequencing the putative CSP of P. vivax (PvpuCSP) in 71 isolates collected from P. vivax endemic regions of India, revealed a well-conserved N- and C-terminal, constituting around 80 % of the gene. PCR amplification and sequencing validated extensive diversity in the repeat region, ranging from 1.8 to 2.2 kb towards the C-terminal, identifying 37 different alleles from 71 samples. Conclusions: The recent and exclusive accumulation of repeats in the putative circumsporozoite protein within Indian P. vivax highlights its highly variable length polymorphism, making it a potential marker for estimating diversity and infection complexity. Episodic diversifying selection in the PvpuCSP repeat region, supported by statistically significant p-values and likelihood ratios, contributes to amino acid diversity at various phylogenetic levels. Our previous systematic computational study proposed PvpuCSP as E3-ubiquitin ligase, and the observed diversity may facilitate adaptation to different ubiquitination-related interactions, though this remains to be experimentally validated.
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spelling doaj-art-81c4ff40484e4afbadbe9a8dfe3213212025-08-20T02:43:25ZengElsevierCurrent Research in Microbial Sciences2666-51742025-01-01910043210.1016/j.crmicr.2025.100432Evolution of tandem repeats in putative circumsporozoite protein to enhance its function: A recent and exclusive event in Plasmodium vivax in IndiaManoswini Dash0Veena Pande1Aparup Das2Abhinav Sinha3ICMR-National Institute of Malaria Research, New Delhi, India; Centre for Aging, School of Medicine, Tulane University, LA, USADepartment of Biotechnology, Kumaun University, Nainital, Uttarakhand, IndiaICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, Sri Vijaya Puram, IndiaICMR-National Institute of Malaria Research, New Delhi, India; Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research, Ghaziabad, India; Corresponding author.Background: The hitchhiking model of molecular evolution proposes that linked non-coding regions also undergo fixation, while fixing a beneficial allele in a population. This concept can be applied to identify loci with functional and evolutionary significance. Putative circumsporozoite protein in Plasmodium vivax (PvpuCSP) identified following the molecular hitchhiking model, holds evolutionary significance. Methods: We investigated the extent of genetic polymorphism in PvpuCSP and the role of natural selection which shapes the genetic composition and maintains the diversity in P. vivax isolates from India. Results: Sequencing the putative CSP of P. vivax (PvpuCSP) in 71 isolates collected from P. vivax endemic regions of India, revealed a well-conserved N- and C-terminal, constituting around 80 % of the gene. PCR amplification and sequencing validated extensive diversity in the repeat region, ranging from 1.8 to 2.2 kb towards the C-terminal, identifying 37 different alleles from 71 samples. Conclusions: The recent and exclusive accumulation of repeats in the putative circumsporozoite protein within Indian P. vivax highlights its highly variable length polymorphism, making it a potential marker for estimating diversity and infection complexity. Episodic diversifying selection in the PvpuCSP repeat region, supported by statistically significant p-values and likelihood ratios, contributes to amino acid diversity at various phylogenetic levels. Our previous systematic computational study proposed PvpuCSP as E3-ubiquitin ligase, and the observed diversity may facilitate adaptation to different ubiquitination-related interactions, though this remains to be experimentally validated.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666517425000938Putative CSPSyntenyVNTRMolecular hitchhikingNatural selection
spellingShingle Manoswini Dash
Veena Pande
Aparup Das
Abhinav Sinha
Evolution of tandem repeats in putative circumsporozoite protein to enhance its function: A recent and exclusive event in Plasmodium vivax in India
Current Research in Microbial Sciences
Putative CSP
Synteny
VNTR
Molecular hitchhiking
Natural selection
title Evolution of tandem repeats in putative circumsporozoite protein to enhance its function: A recent and exclusive event in Plasmodium vivax in India
title_full Evolution of tandem repeats in putative circumsporozoite protein to enhance its function: A recent and exclusive event in Plasmodium vivax in India
title_fullStr Evolution of tandem repeats in putative circumsporozoite protein to enhance its function: A recent and exclusive event in Plasmodium vivax in India
title_full_unstemmed Evolution of tandem repeats in putative circumsporozoite protein to enhance its function: A recent and exclusive event in Plasmodium vivax in India
title_short Evolution of tandem repeats in putative circumsporozoite protein to enhance its function: A recent and exclusive event in Plasmodium vivax in India
title_sort evolution of tandem repeats in putative circumsporozoite protein to enhance its function a recent and exclusive event in plasmodium vivax in india
topic Putative CSP
Synteny
VNTR
Molecular hitchhiking
Natural selection
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666517425000938
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