Research brief
Plasmodium vivax: allele variants of the mdr1 gene do not associate with chloroquine resistance among isolates from Brazil, Papua, and monkey-adapted strains

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exppara.2004.12.005Get rights and content

Abstract

We describe here the sequence of the Plasmodium vivax mdr1 gene from 10 different isolates differing in chloroquine sensitivity. The deduced amino acid sequence of PvMDR1 shares more than 70% similarity with other malarial MDR proteins and it displays consensus motifs of an ABC family transporter including two transmembrane domains and two ATP binding cassettes. Similarity and dendrogram analyses revealed that sequences could be grouped according to their geographical origin. Within each geographical group however, no correlation was found between chloroquine resistance and specific mutations.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Prof. Luiz H. Pereira da Silva (CEPEM, Centro de Pesquisas em Medicina Tropical, Rondonia, Brazil) for facilities and to Drs. William E. Collins (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Chamblee, GA, USA) and Juan M. Villalobos (CEPEM, Centro de Pesquisas em Medicina Tropical, Rondonia, Brazil) for P. vivax isolates. To Drs. Jianbing Mu, Emilio Fernando Merino and Alan Durham for help with in silico analysis. To Mr. Cassiano Pereira Nunes for the drawing in Fig. 2, to Ms.

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