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Publication Date
2016-5
Document Type
Honors Project
Department
Biological Sciences
Keywords
Apicomplexa, Phylogenomics, Chromosome mapping, Genome evolution, Apicomplexa-Phylogeny, Phylogeny, Gene mapping, Evolutionary genetics
Abstract
Malaria is a pandemic, especially in developing countries, and is thus the subject of much biological research. Plasmodium falciparum, the causative agent of malaria and a member of the pathogenic clade called Apicomplexa, has been the subject of intense study. Using the completely mapped genome of P. falciparum, I developed a method that maps the phylogenetic relationship of each gene across all 14 chromosomes of P. falciparum. With these maps, I am able to identify clusters showing patterns of conservation and rates of evolution in P. falciparum. The data from this study suggest that there are more rapidly evolving genes in the genome of P. falciparum (genes that are SAR specific), especially in the telomeric regions. The results further suggest that there are few LGT events and several duplication events in the genome of P. falciparum.
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Nwaka, Esther, "Analysis of the phylogenetic relationships of genes along chromosomes in the genome of the malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum" (2016). Honors Project, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/theses/1656
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Comments
45 pages : color illustrations, color map. Honors project, Smith College, 2016. Includes bibliographical references (pages 43-45)