Bo WangMyat Htut NyuntSeung Gyu YunFeng LuYang ChengJin Hee HanKwon Soo HaWon Sun ParkSeok Ho HongChae Seung LimJun CaoJetsumon SattabongkotMyat Phone KyawLiwang CuiEun Taek HanKangwon National UniversityAnhui Medical UniversityDepartment of Medical ResearchKorea UniversityJiangsu Institute of Parasitic DiseasesJiangnan UniversityMahidol UniversityPennsylvania State University2018-12-212019-03-142018-12-212019-03-142017-06-01Acta Tropica. Vol.170, (2017), 161-168187362540001706X2-s2.0-85014868895https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/41476© 2017 Elsevier B.V. The variable number of tandem repeats (VNTRs) provides valuable information about both the functional and evolutionary aspects of genetic diversity. Comparative analysis of 3 Plasmodium falciparum genomes has shown that more than 9% of its open reading frames (ORFs) harbor VNTRs. Although microsatellites and VNTR genes of P. vivax were reported, the VNTR polymorphism of genes has not been examined widely. In this study, 230 P. vivax genes were analyzed for VNTRs by SERV, and 33 kinds of TR deletions or insertions from 29 P. vivax genes (12.6%) were found. Of these, 9 VNTR fragments from 8 P. vivax genes were used for PCR amplification and sequence analysis to examine the genetic diversity among 134 isolates from four Southeast Asian countries (China, Republic of Korea, Thailand, and Myanmar) with different malaria endemicity. We confirmed the existence of extensive polymorphism of VNTR fragments in field isolates. This detection provides several suitable markers for analysis of the molecular epidemiology of P. vivax field isolates.Mahidol UniversityAgricultural and Biological SciencesImmunology and MicrobiologyArticleSCOPUS10.1016/j.actatropica.2017.01.013