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In Silico analysis of malaria parasite databanks for specific genes and motifs associated with immune evasion

Dissertation (MSc (Biochemistry))--University of Pretoria, 2001.

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Other Authors: Louw, Abraham Izak
Format: Thesis
Published: University of Pretoria 2013
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access_status_str Open Access
author2 Louw, Abraham Izak
author_browse Louw, Abraham Izak
author_facet Louw, Abraham Izak
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2001 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Dissertation (MSc (Biochemistry))--University of Pretoria, 2001.
format Thesis
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institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:39:52.674Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2013
publishDateRange 2013
publishDateSort 2013
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
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source_str UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/27675 In Silico analysis of malaria parasite databanks for specific genes and motifs associated with immune evasion Louw, Abraham Izak upetd@up.ac.za De Ridder, Jaco Plasmodium falciparum composition Plasmodium falciparum analysis UCTD Dissertation (MSc (Biochemistry))--University of Pretoria, 2001. In Silica analysis of available biological data is a powerful tool for not only the identification of new genes, but also to study evolutionary relationships and regulatory mechanisms. In this study, a number of bioinformatic tools and techniques were applied on the available sequence data of the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. In Silica techniques were used for the identification of a genomic sequence tag (GST) matching the facilitated glucose transporter family as assessed by BLAST. The open reading frame encoding the fUll-length glucose transporter gene was subsequently assembled from contig sequences of chromosome 2 of the malaria parasite. The frequency of occurrence of di-, tri- and tetranucleotide sequences in both the coding and non-coding regions of chromosome 2 of P. falciparum was also exhaustively analysed. The relative abundance (observed, compared to expected values) of these oligonucleotide sequences, normalised for the nucleotide base composition, was calculated as an odds ratio and compared to those of other organisms. These relative abundancies are referred to as the organism's genomic signature. The CC•GG and CG-dinucleotides exhibited the highest and the lowest odds ratios, respectively. These genome signatures were shown to be constrained by the codon preference and amino acid abundancies. A number of genes with genomic signatures differing significantly from the average signature were also identified and were deduced to be acquired by lateral transfer from unidentified sources. A definite association between interspaced TGCA tetranucleotides and polymorphic traits of the FC27 allele of merozoite surface antigen 2 (MSA-2) was shown. The observed switching and deletion of a limited number of identical nucleotide sequences of several alleles interspersed between direct repeats, provided clues to potential mechanisms employed by the parasite to affect antigenic polymorphism. The identification of a number of motifs for intragenic (homologous) recombination led us to propose a mechanism by which the parasite achieves antigenic variation in single copy genes. These results have profound implications for the design of candidate anti-malarial vaccines, microsatellite typing and characterisation of proteins mediating these recombination events. Biochemistry unrestricted 2013-09-07T12:00:25Z 2006-02-13 2013-09-07T12:00:25Z 2001-09-01 2001 2006-02-09 Dissertation De Ridder, J 2001, In Silico analysis of malaria parasite databanks for specific genes and motifs associated with immune evasion, MSc dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://hdl.handle.net/2263/27675 > H1109/ag http://hdl.handle.net/2263/27675 http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-02092006-161806/ © 2001 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle Plasmodium falciparum composition
Plasmodium falciparum analysis
UCTD
In Silico analysis of malaria parasite databanks for specific genes and motifs associated with immune evasion
title In Silico analysis of malaria parasite databanks for specific genes and motifs associated with immune evasion
title_full In Silico analysis of malaria parasite databanks for specific genes and motifs associated with immune evasion
title_fullStr In Silico analysis of malaria parasite databanks for specific genes and motifs associated with immune evasion
title_full_unstemmed In Silico analysis of malaria parasite databanks for specific genes and motifs associated with immune evasion
title_short In Silico analysis of malaria parasite databanks for specific genes and motifs associated with immune evasion
title_sort in silico analysis of malaria parasite databanks for specific genes and motifs associated with immune evasion
topic Plasmodium falciparum composition
Plasmodium falciparum analysis
UCTD
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/27675
http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-02092006-161806/