genetic diversity block 2 of surface protein-1 in plasmodium falciparum merozoite by nested-pcr method in southeastern iran

abstract       background and objectives: plasmodium falciparum merozoite surface protein-1 (pfmsp-1) is a promising vaccine against malaria during its blood stages which play an important role in immunity to this disease. polymorphic nature of this gene is a major obstacle in making an effective vaccine against malaria. in this study, the genetic diversity of plasmodium falciparum isolates was investigated in sistan-baluchestan province using allelic families of the msp-1.        methods: from march/april 2011 to august/september 2012, 94 blood samples were collected from patients with falciparum malaria who were living in four districts of sistan-baluchestan province. the extracted genomic dna and genetic diversity of msp-1 block 2 were evaluated by nested polymerase chain reaction.         results: from a total of 94 patients, 89 patients (94.7%) had positive pcr results and the remaining five patients were excluded. seven different alleles of msp-1 were identified through size difference on agarose gel. comprising 46.1% of the samples, mad20 was identified as the predominant msp-1 allelic family, while the ro33 family had the lowest frequency (with 7.9%). in 10% of samples infection with two alleles was observed.          conclusion: the results of this study suggest that genetic diversity of pfmsp-1 in southeastern iran is relatively low and most infections originate from a clone that is consistent with an area of low malaria transmission. this information is useful for the prevention and control of malaria in iran.           keywords: merozoite surface protein 1, plasmodium falciparum, polymerase chain reaction