1. Measurably recombining malaria parasites.
- Author
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Camponovo, Flavia, Buckee, Caroline O., and Taylor, Aimee R.
- Subjects
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PLASMODIUM , *COMMUNICABLE diseases , *MOLECULAR epidemiology , *EPIDEMIOLOGY - Abstract
Genomic epidemiology has guided research and policy for various viral pathogens and there has been a parallel effort towards using genomic epidemiology to combat diseases that are caused by eukaryotic pathogens, such as the malaria parasite. However, the central concept of viral genomic epidemiology, namely that of measurably mutating pathogens, does not apply easily to sexually recombining parasites. Here we introduce the related but different concept of measurably recombining malaria parasites to promote convergence around a unifying theoretical framework for malaria genomic epidemiology. Akin to viral phylodynamics, we anticipate that an inferential framework developed around recombination will help guide practical research and thus realize the full public health potential of genomic epidemiology for malaria parasites and other sexually recombining pathogens. The recent pandemic has further highlighted the public health potential of infectious disease genomic epidemiology. For viruses, epidemiological parameters can be estimated under powerful phylodynamic models using both epidemiological and genomic data jointly. An equivalent framework for malaria parasites is lacking because they recombine. Recombination between malaria parasites can generate epidemiologically relevant variation, but recombination is sometimes ineffective, depending dynamically on transmission. This makes it hard to model. It also means it could link epidemiological and genomic processes if they were modeled jointly. Given the potential of recombination, efforts to build a unifying inferential framework around the malaria parasite ancestral recombination graph (ARG) are merited. ARG-based genomic epidemiology could someday be an equivalent of phylodynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
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