MétaCan
Menu
Back to cohort
Record W4412646587 · doi:10.1101/2025.07.23.666329

Uncovering the genetic diversity of the malaria parasite antigen MSP2 across Sub-Saharan Africa

2025· preprint· en· W4412646587 on OpenAlexaff
Julia Zerebinski, Ioanna Broumou, Kelvin M. Kimenyi, Eleni Aklillu, Carolina M. Andrade, Hamza A. Babiker, Philip Bejon, Mariama K. Cherif, Peter D. Crompton, Cláudia Fançony, Fariba Foroogh, José Pedro Gil, Melissa C. Kapulu, Margaret Kweku, Anne Liljander, Kevin Marsh, Doreen D. Mutemi, Billy Ngasala, Johan Normark, Judy Orikiiriza, Kristina E. M. Persson, Sílvia Portugal, Ulf Ribacke, Sodiomon B. Sirima, Klara Sondén, Taís Nóbrega de Sousa, Boubacar Traoré, Muyideen Kolapo Tijani, Nils Eckerdal, Pär Villner, Lynette Isabella Ochola‐Oyier, David Fernando Plaza, Anna Färnert

Bibliographic record

VenuebioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2025
Typepreprint
Languageen
FieldBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
TopicGenetics, Bioinformatics, and Biomedical Research
Canadian institutionsInstitute of Infection and Immunity
FundersEuropean and Developing Countries Clinical Trials PartnershipScience for Life LaboratoryVetenskapsrådetKarolinska Institutet
KeywordsMalariaParasite hostingDiversity (politics)Genetic diversityEvolutionary biologyBiologyGeographyDemographyImmunologyPopulationSociologyComputer scienceAnthropology

Abstract

fetched live from OpenAlex

Abstract Genetic diversity in Plasmodium falciparum poses a significant challenge to malaria control and elimination. This is particularly important for developing fully efficacious vaccines, which should include valuable blood stage antigens. Several antigen candidates are highly diverse and require further understanding. We surveyed the genetic diversity of the highly polymorphic merozoite surface protein 2 (MSP2) in 2761 P. falciparum isolates collected across Sub-Saharan Africa. Using PCR-based genotyping and long-read sequencing, we identified extensive diversity among msp2 size variants and sequences. Some size variants were more prevalent than others across different geographical regions, transmission intensities, and time points. These variants comprised multiple unique sequences, of which several were geographically and temporally widespread. Our study reveals greater msp2 sequence diversity than previously known, while also identifying interesting similarities in sequence and gene length across Sub-Saharan Africa. These findings support the further exploration of common msp2 variants in relation to parasite virulence and vaccine development.

Fetched live from OpenAlex and de-inverted. Abstracts are not stored in this database: the inverted indexes are 8.6 GB of the frame’s 9.3 GB of text, and the host has 13 GB free.

How this classification was reachedexpand

Full frame machine prediction

Teacher imitation

Not calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.

metaresearch head score (Codex)0.000
metaresearch head score (Gemma)0.001
Version: metacan-v3-hybrid-931329e0061cValidation status: machine_predicted_unvalidated
Candidate categoriesnone
Consensus categoriesnone
DomainCandidate signal: none · Consensus signal: none
Study designCandidate signal: Observational · Consensus signal: none
GenreCandidate signal: Empirical · Consensus signal: Empirical
Teacher disagreement score0.001
Threshold uncertainty score0.003

Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)

CategoryCodexGemma
Metaresearch0.0000.001
Meta-epidemiology (narrow)0.0000.000
Meta-epidemiology (broad)0.0000.000
Bibliometrics0.0010.001
Science and technology studies0.0000.000
Scholarly communication0.0000.000
Open science0.0000.000
Research integrity0.0000.000
Insufficient payload (model declined to judge)0.0010.000

Machine scores (provisional)

The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.

Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.

Opus teacher head0.015
GPT teacher head0.244
Teacher spread0.229 · how far apart the two teachers sit on this one work
Validation statusscore_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from it

Classification

machine, unvalidated

Machine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.

The models applied no category: nothing in the taxonomy fit this work.
Study designObservational
Domainnot available
GenreEmpirical

How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".

Quick stats

Citations1
Published2025
Admission routes1
Has abstractyes

Explore more

Same venuebioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)Same topicGenetics, Bioinformatics, and Biomedical ResearchFrench-language works237,207