Evolution of antimalarial drug resistance markers in the reservoir of plasmodium falciparum infections in the upper east region of Ghana

Background. The majority of Plasmodium falciparum infections, constituting the reservoir in all ages, are asymptomatic in high-transmission settings in Africa. The role of this reservoir in the evolution and spread of drug resistance was explored. Methods. Population genetic analyses of the key drug resistance-mediating polymorphisms were analyzed in a cross-sectional survey of asymptomatic P. falciparum infections across all ages in Bongo District, Ghana. Results. Seven years after the policy change to artemisinin-based combination therapies in 2005, the pfcrt K76 and pfmdr1 N86 wild-type alleles have nearly reached fixation and have expanded via soft selective sweeps on multiple genetic backgrounds. By constructing the pfcrt-pfmdr1-pfdhfr-pfdhps multilocus haplotypes, we found that the alleles at these loci were in linkage equilibrium and that multidrug-resistant parasites have not expanded in this reservoir. For pfk13, 32 nonsynonymous mutations were identified; however, none were associated with artemisinin-based combination therapy resistance. Conclusions. The prevalence and selection of alleles/haplotypes by antimalarials were similar to that observed among clinical cases in Ghana, indicating that they do not represent 2 subpopulations with respect to these markers. Thus, the P. falciparum reservoir in all ages can contribute to the maintenance and spread of antimalarial resistance.