Advances and opportunities in malaria population genomics

• Published in: Nature reviews. Genetics 2021-08, Vol.22 (8), p.502-517
• Main Authors: Neafsey, Daniel E., Taylor, Aimee R., MacInnis, Bronwyn L.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 631/208/212/2301; 631/326/417/2550; 692/699/255; Agriculture; Animal Genetics and Genomics; Animals; Anopheles - genetics; Antimalarials - pharmacology; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Cancer Research; Disease control; Drug Resistance; Epidemiology; Gene Function; Genes, Insect; Genes, Protozoan; Genetic aspects; Genetic diversity; Genomes; Genomics; Host-parasite relationships; Human Genetics; Humans; Insects as carriers of disease; Malaria; Malaria - parasitology; Malaria - prevention & control; Malaria Vaccines; Metagenomics - trends; Mosquito Vectors - genetics; Parasites; Parasitological research; Pesticide resistance; Plasmodium falciparum; Plasmodium falciparum - drug effects; Plasmodium falciparum - genetics; Population; Population genetics; Review; Review Article; Vaccine development; Vectors
• ISSN: 1471-0056; 1471-0064
• DOI: 10.1038/s41576-021-00349-5

Almost 20 years have passed since the first reference genome assemblies were published for Plasmodium falciparum , the deadliest malaria parasite, and Anopheles gambiae , the most important mosquito vector of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa. Reference genomes now exist for all human malaria parasites and nearly half of the ~40 important vectors around the world. As a foundation for genetic diversity studies, these reference genomes have helped advance our understanding of basic disease biology and drug and insecticide resistance, and have informed vaccine development efforts. Population genomic data are increasingly being used to guide our understanding of malaria epidemiology, for example by assessing connectivity between populations and the efficacy of parasite and vector interventions. The potential value of these applications to malaria control strategies, together with the increasing diversity of genomic data types and contexts in which data are being generated, raise both opportunities and challenges in the field. This Review discusses advances in malaria genomics and explores how population genomic data could be harnessed to further support global disease control efforts. In this Review, Neafsey, Taylor and MacInnis discuss how population genomics approaches are currently used to study malaria parasites and mosquito vectors. They explore information that can be derived from such genomics approaches and discuss the use of relatedness-based measures of population variation to understand parasite and vector dynamics at highly resolved spatiotemporal scales.