Two simian malaria parasite species, Plasmodium knowlesi and Plasmodium cynomolgi, cause zoonotic infections in Southeast Asia, and they have therefore gained recognition among scientists and public health officials. Notwithstanding, these species and others including Plasmodium coatneyi have served for decades as sources of knowledge on the biology, genetics and evolution of Plasmodium, and the diverse ramifications and outcomes of malaria in their monkey hosts. Experimental analysis of these species can help to fill gaps in knowledge beyond what may be possible studying the human malaria parasites or rodent parasite species. The genome sequences for these simian malaria parasite species were reported during the last decade, and functional genomics research has since been pursued. Here research on the functional genomics analysis involving these species is summarized and their importance is stressed, particularly for understanding host-parasite interactions, and potentially testing novel interventions. Importantly, while Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax can be studied in small New World monkeys, the simian malaria parasites can be studied more effectively in the larger Old World monkey macaque hosts, which are more closely related to humans. In addition to ex vivo analyses, experimental scenarios can include passage through Anopheline mosquito hosts and longitudinal infections in monkeys to study acute and chronic infections, as well as relapses, all in the context of the in vivo host environment. Such experiments provide opportunities for understanding functional genomic elements that govern host-parasite interactions, immunity and pathogenesis in-depth, addressing hypotheses not possible from in vitro cultures or cross-sectional clinical studies with humans.

中文翻译：

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猿猴疟原虫和宿主-寄生虫相互作用的功能基因组学。

猿猴疟原虫和食蟹疟原虫是两种猿猴疟原虫，在东南亚引起人畜共患病感染，因此得到了科学家和公共卫生官员的认可。尽管如此，这些物种和其他物种（包括大衣疟原虫）几十年来一直是疟原虫生物学，遗传学和进化以及其猴寄主中疟疾的多种分支和结果的知识来源。对这些物种的实验分析可以帮助填补知识方面的空白，而不仅仅是研究人类疟疾寄生虫或啮齿动物寄生虫物种。这些猿猴疟原虫物种的基因组序列是在过去十年中报道的，此后一直进行功能基因组学研究。这里总结了有关涉及这些物种的功能基因组学分析的研究，并强调了它们的重要性，特别是对于理解宿主与寄生虫的相互作用以及潜在地测试新型干预措施。重要的是，虽然可以在新大陆小型猴子中研究恶性疟原虫和间日疟原虫，但在与人类更紧密相关的较大的旧世界猴猕猴宿主中，可以更有效地研究猿猴疟原虫。除了离体分析之外，实验方案还可以包括在体内宿主环境中，通过按蚊蚊子宿主传播以及猴子的纵向感染，以研究急性和慢性感染以及复发。