Figures
Genomic diversity of Plasmodium knowlesi.
Wild primates are now recognised as important reservoirs of malaria parasites that can infect humans. Diez Benavente et al. studied the macaque parasite Plasmodium knowlesi. They used a new high-quality reference genome to re-evaluate previously described subpopulations among human and macaque isolates from Malaysian-Borneo and Peninsular-Malaysia. Their analysis reveals genetic regions that have been recently exchanged between long-tailed and pig-tailed macaques, which contain genes with signals indicative of rapid contemporary ecological change, including deforestation. The image shows a long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis), one of two simian hosts known to carry the zoonotic malaria parasite P. knowlesi in Malaysia. See Diez Benavente et al.
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Image Credit: Shankar S. (flickr; CC BY 2.0)
Citation: (2017) PLoS Genetics Issue Image | Vol. 13(9) September 2017. PLoS Genet 13(9): ev13.i09. https://doi.org/10.1371/image.pgen.v13.i09
Published: September 29, 2017
Copyright: © 2017 Shankar S. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Wild primates are now recognised as important reservoirs of malaria parasites that can infect humans. Diez Benavente et al. studied the macaque parasite Plasmodium knowlesi. They used a new high-quality reference genome to re-evaluate previously described subpopulations among human and macaque isolates from Malaysian-Borneo and Peninsular-Malaysia. Their analysis reveals genetic regions that have been recently exchanged between long-tailed and pig-tailed macaques, which contain genes with signals indicative of rapid contemporary ecological change, including deforestation. The image shows a long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis), one of two simian hosts known to carry the zoonotic malaria parasite P. knowlesi in Malaysia. See Diez Benavente et al.
Please download September's cover page here.
Image Credit: Shankar S. (flickr; CC BY 2.0)