ArticlePLoS genetics2017
High rate of adaptation of mammalian proteins that interact with Plasmodium and related parasites.
Article in PLoS genetics, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 34 citations in OpenAlex.
- Urea transporter evolution: deep conservation, recent adaptation in mammals, and maintenance of the Jka/Jkb polymorphism in the past ~ 110,000 years.Biology direct · 2026Article
- Local genetic adaptation to habitat in wild chimpanzees.Science (New York, N.Y.) · 2025Article
- Positive Selection on Mammalian Immune Genes-Effects of Gene Function and Selective Constraint.Molecular biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Positive Selection Drives the Evolution of the Structural Maintenance of Chromosomes (SMC) Complexes.Genes · 2024Article
- Local genetic adaptation to habitat in wild chimpanzees.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Genes and sites under adaptation at the phylogenetic scale also exhibit adaptation at the population-genetic scale.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Population-Genomic Analysis Identifies a Low Rate of Global Adaptive Fixation in the Proteins of the Cyclical Parthenogen Daphnia magna.Molecular biology and evolution · 2022Article
- Review
- Three Signatures of Adaptive Polymorphism Exemplified by Malaria-Associated Genes.Molecular biology and evolution · 2021Article
- Ancient RNA virus epidemics through the lens of recent adaptation in human genomes.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2020Article
- Mutation severity spectrum of rare alleles in the human genome is predictive of disease type.PLoS computational biology · 2020Article
- Integrated structural and evolutionary analysis reveals common mechanisms underlying adaptive evolution in mammals.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2020Article
- Adaptive selection in the evolution of programmed cell death-1 and its ligands in vertebrates.Aging · 2020Article
- Host-Malaria Parasite Interactions and Impacts on Mutual Evolution.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2020Review
- Hereditary elliptocytosis-associated alpha-spectrin mutation p.L155dup as a modifier of sickle cell disease severity.Pediatric blood & cancer · 2019Article
- Article
- Evidence that RNA Viruses Drove Adaptive Introgression between Neanderthals and Modern Humans.Cell · 2018Article
- Genetic conflicts with Plasmodium parasites and functional constraints shape the evolution of erythrocyte cytoskeletal proteins.Scientific reports · 2018Article
- The Neutral Theory in Light of Natural Selection.Molecular biology and evolution · 2018Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Plasmodium parasites, along with their Piroplasm relatives, have caused malaria-like illnesses in terrestrial mammals for millions of years. Several Plasmodium-protective alleles have recently evolved in human populations, but little is known about host adaptation to blood parasites over deeper evolutionary timescales. In this work, we analyze mammalian adaptation in ~500 Plasmodium- or Piroplasm- interacting proteins (PPIPs) manually curated from the scientific literature. We show that (i) PPIPs are enriched for both immune functions and pleiotropy with other pathogens, and (ii) the rate of adaptation across mammals is significantly elevated in PPIPs, compared to carefully matched control proteins. PPIPs with high pathogen pleiotropy show the strongest signatures of adaptation, but this pattern is fully explained by their immune enrichment. Several pieces of evidence suggest that blood parasites specifically have imposed selection on PPIPs. First, even non-immune PPIPs that lack interactions with other pathogens have adapted at twice the rate of matched controls. Second, PPIP adaptation is linked to high expression in the liver, a critical organ in the parasite life cycle. Finally, our detailed investigation of alpha-spectrin, a major red blood cell membrane protein, shows that domains with particularly high rates of adaptation are those known to interact specifically with P. falciparum. Overall, we show that host proteins that interact with Plasmodium and Piroplasm parasites have experienced elevated rates of adaptation across mammals, and provide evidence that some of this adaptation has likely been driven by blood parasites.
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