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Review
. 2022 Apr 13;11(4):587.
doi: 10.3390/biology11040587.

Whole Genome Sequencing Contributions and Challenges in Disease Reduction Focused on Malaria

Olusegun Philip Akoniyon  1 , Taiye Samson Adewumi  1 , Leah Maharaj  1 , Olukunle Olugbenle Oyegoke  1 , Alexandra Roux  1 , Matthew A Adeleke  1 , Rajendra Maharaj  2 , Moses Okpeku  1
Affiliations
Review

Whole Genome Sequencing Contributions and Challenges in Disease Reduction Focused on Malaria

Olusegun Philip Akoniyon et al. Biology (Basel). .

Abstract

Malaria elimination remains an important goal that requires the adoption of sophisticated science and management strategies in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic. The advent of next generation sequencing (NGS) is making whole genome sequencing (WGS) a standard today in the field of life sciences, as PCR genotyping and targeted sequencing provide insufficient information compared to the whole genome. Thus, adapting WGS approaches to malaria parasites is pertinent to studying the epidemiology of the disease, as different regions are at different phases in their malaria elimination agenda. Therefore, this review highlights the applications of WGS in disease management, challenges of WGS in controlling malaria parasites, and in furtherance, provides the roles of WGS in pursuit of malaria reduction and elimination. WGS has invaluable impacts in malaria research and has helped countries to reach elimination phase rapidly by providing required information needed to thwart transmission, pathology, and drug resistance. However, to eliminate malaria in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), with high malaria transmission, we recommend that WGS machines should be readily available and affordable in the region.

Keywords: drug resistance; elimination; malaria; next generation sequencing; whole genome sequencing.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Diagram of a whole genome sequence pipeline. (A) Shows process of library preparation. (B) Speaks to mapping nucleotide sequence to a reference genome. (C) shows detection and calling of variants (SNP). (D) Gene annotation: identification of functional elements across the genome. The letters represent functional proteins.
Figure 2
Figure 2
A diagram representing overview of general WGS applications. AMR: Antimicrobial Resistance.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Different roles of WGS in malaria research. (A) shows resistance allele (SNP) conferring resistance to antimalarial. (B) shows discovery of vaccine candidate genes which may lead to vaccine discovery. (C) depicts microevolution from wild to resistant mosquitoes’ population. (D) depicts parasites population structure. (E) speaks to diverse mosquito genotypes within an infection. (F) shows variation in size of DNA. A part of the DNA has been deleted.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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