Abstract
The undergoing WHO Malaria elimination program is threatened by the emergenceand potential spread of the Plasmodium falciparum artemisinin resistant parasite.Recent reports have shown (a) SNPs in region of chromosome 13 to be understrong recent positive selection in Cambodia, (b) presence of P. falciparum parasiteresistant and sensitive subpopulations in Cambodia, (c) the evidence that mutationsin the Kelch propeller domain of the k13 gene are major determinants ofartemisinin resistance in Cambodian parasite population and (d) parasite subpopulations in Northern Cambodia near Thailand and Laos with mefloquine drugresistance and carrying R539T allele of the k13 gene.Identifying the genetic basis of resistance is important to monitor and control thetransmission of resistant parasites and to understand parasite metabolism for the development of new drugs. This thesis focuses on analysis of P. falciparum population structure in Cambodia and description of metabolic properties of these subpopulations and gene flow among them. This could help in identifying the genetic evidence associated to transmission and acquisition of artemisinin resistance over the country.First, a barcode approach was used to identify parasite subpopulations using smallnumber of loci. A mid-throughput PCR-LDR-FMA approach based on LUMINEXtechnology was used to screen for SNPs in 537 blood samples (2010 - 2011) from 16health centres in Cambodia. Based on successful typing of 282 samples, subpopulations were characterized along the borders of the country. Gene flow was described based on the gradient of alleles at the 11 loci in the barcode. The barcode successfully identifies recently emerging parasite subpopulations associated to artemisinin and mefloquine resistance.In the second approach, the parasite population structure was defined based on167 parasite NGS genomes (2008 - 2011) originating from four locations in Cambodia,recovered from the ENA database. Based on calling of 21257 SNPs, eight parasite subpopulations were described. Presence of admixture parasite subpopulation couldbe supporting artemisinin resistance transmission. Functional analysis based on significant genes validated similar background for resistant isolates and revealed PI3K pathway in resistant populations supporting acquisition of resistance by assisting the parasite in ring stage form.Our findings question the origin and the persistence of the P. falciparum subpopulations in Cambodia, provide evidence of gene flow among subpopulations anddescribe a model of artemisinin resistance acquisition.The variant calling approach was also implemented on the Babesia microti genome.This is a malaria like syndrome, and is endemic in the North-Eastern USA. Theobjective was to validate the taxonomic position of B. microti as out-group amongpiroplasmida and improve the functional genome annotation based on genetic variation, gene expression and protein antigenicity. We identified new proteins involved in parasite host interactions.