Genetic Diversity and Population Genetic Analysis of Plasmodium falciparum Thrombospondin Related Anonymous Protein (TRAP) in Clinical Samples from Saudi Arabia

The thrombospondin related anonymous protein (TRAP) is considered one of the most important pre-erythrocytic vaccine targets. Earlier population genetic studies revealed the TRAP gene to be under strong balancing natural selection. This study is the first attempt to analyze genetic diversity, natural selection, phylogeography and population structure in 199 clinical samples from Saudi Arabia using the full-length PfTRAP gene. We found the rate of nonsynonymous substitutions to be significantly higher than that of synonymous substitutions in the clinical samples, indicating a strong positive or diversifying selection for the full-length gene and the Von Willebrand factor (VWF). The nucleotide diversity was found to be pi similar to 0.00789 for the full-length gene; however, higher nucleotide diversity was observed for the VWF compared to the thrombospondin repeat region (TSP). Deduction of the amino acid sequence alignment of the PNP repeat region in the Saudi samples revealed six genotypes characterized by tripeptide repeat motifs (PNP, ANP, ENP and SNP). Haplotype network, population structure and population differentiation analyses indicated four distinct sub-populations in spite of the low geographical distance between the sampling sites. Our results suggest the likeliness of independent parasite evolution, creating opportunities for further adaptation, including host transition, and making malaria control even more challenging.