Population genetic correlates of declining transmission in a human pathogen

摘要: Pathogen control programs provide a valuable, but rarely exploited, opportunity to directly examine the relationship between population decline and genetics. We investigated impact of an ~12-fold in transmission on genetics Plasmodium falciparum infections (n = 1731) sampled from four clinics Thai-Burma border over 10 years genotyped using 96 genome-wide SNPs. The most striking associated genetic change was reduction frequency containing multiple parasite genotypes 63% 2001 14% 2010 (P 3 × 10(-15)). Two measures clonal composition populations (genotypic richness β-parameter Pareto distribution) declined time as more people were infected by parasites with identical multilocus genotypes, consistent increased selfing rate at which are broken apart recombination. predicted that transmission, clone carriage outbreeding would be mirrored influence drift. However, geographical differentiation expected heterozygosity remained stable across sampling period. Furthermore, N(e) estimates derived allele frequencies fluctuation high (582 ∞) showed no downward trend. These results demonstrate how data can compliment epidemiological assessments infectious disease programs. temporal changes single declining parallel those seen comparisons regions differing endemicity, strongly supporting notion reduced for is key driver these patterns.