Sequence heterogeneity of the merozoite surface protein-1 gene (MSP-1) of Plasmodium vivax wild isolates in southeastern Iran

The merozoite surface protein of Plasmodium vivax (PvMSP-1) has been considered as a vaccine candidate, which exhibits antigenic diversity among isolates. We investigated the extent of sequence variation in the polymorphic region 5 of PvMSP-1 in order to characterize the genetic structure and composition of P. vivax in clinical isolates from Iranshahr and Chahbahar districts of Sistan and Baluchistan province, Iran. The PvMSP-1 gene amplification revealed size variation among the isolates, ranging from 430 to 550 bp. Sequences were obtained for 15 Iranian and one Pakistani isolates and 14 different alleles were detected. Results also showed three distinct sequence types of the polymorphic region. Sequence analysis has shown several single nucleotide polymorphisms to occur in this block of PvMSP-1, creating different alleles in the progeny and also microheterogeneity in the region. Thus, this study provides preliminary evidence of sequence heterogeneity in the Iranian P. vivax population.