Plasmodium yoelii

Plasmodium yoelii is a parasite of the genus Plasmodium subgenus Vinckeia. As in all Plasmodium species, P. yoelii has both vertebrate and insect hosts. The vertebrate hosts for this parasite are mammals.

Plasmodium yoelii
Scientific classification
(unranked): Diaphoretickes
Clade: TSAR
Clade: SAR
Infrakingdom: Alveolata
Phylum: Apicomplexa
Class: Aconoidasida
Order: Haemospororida
Family: Plasmodiidae
Genus: Plasmodium
Species:
P. yoelii
Binomial name
Plasmodium yoelii
Landau, Michel and Adam, 1968
Subspecies
  • Plasmodium yoelii killicki
  • Plasmodium yoelii nigeriensis
  • Plasmodium yoelii yoelli

Taxonomy

This species was described in 1968 by Landau, Michel and Adam. Three subspecies are recognised: P. y. killicki, P. y. nigeriensis and P. y. yoelli.

Distribution

This species occurs in Africa.

Vectors

The natural vectors of this species are not currently known. One possible is the female Anopheles mosquito which serves as a vector for Plasmodium vivax.

Hosts

This species infects Thamnomys rutilans.

Notes

It is used in the laboratory to infect mice, as a model of human malaria, particularly with respect to the immune response. It is advantageous to have a whole-animal model of malaria because often it is difficult to know which factors to study in vitro, particularly in a complex system like the immune system. Moreover, for many experiments it is not ethical or practical to use humans.

One of the special things about this particular model is that it has two strains with vastly different pathogenicity. These are generally referred to as the "lethal" and "non-lethal" strains of the species. Comparison of these two strains can be used to deduce which factors may contribute to more serious malaria infections in humans.

References

    Further reading
    Information about the genome and genes of P. yoelii
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