Matthew Berriman and his colleagues studied the genome basis of the adaptability of "Plasmodium falciparum" to human hosts by completely sequencing the genome of the chimpanzee parasite P. reichenowi, which is closely related to "Plasmodium falciparum".
The authors found that the genomes of these two species are almost completely preserved, but there are significant differences in the genes related to the blood stage of the parasite life cycle. Specifically, they found changes at the host-parasite interface. These changes occurred both during the invasion of red blood cells and during the process of changing the receptors on the surface of the infected cells, allowing them to attach To the host endothelial cells.
In addition, they also discovered a small number of genes with unknown functions, which may also contribute to host specificity. Further research is needed to determine the relative contribution of each of these genes to speciation and host adaptation.