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Mutation rates in the dihydrofolate reductase gene of Plasmodium falciparum

Overview of attention for article published in Parasitology, August 2001
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (96th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (81st percentile)

Mentioned by

blogs
2 blogs

Citations

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63 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
57 Mendeley
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Title
Mutation rates in the dihydrofolate reductase gene of Plasmodium falciparum
Published in
Parasitology, August 2001
DOI 10.1017/s0031182001007739
Pubmed ID
Authors

S. PAGET-MCNICOL, A. SAUL

Abstract

A new method has been established to define the limits on a spontaneous mutation rate for a gene in Plasmodium falciparum. The method combines mathematical modelling and large-scale in vitro culturing and calculates the difference in mutant frequencies at 2 separate time-points. We measured the mutation rate at 2 positions in the dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) gene of 3D7, a pyrimethamine-sensitive line of P. falciparum. This line was re-cloned and an effectively large population was treated with a selective pyrimethamine concentration of 40 nM. We detected point mutations at codon-46 (TTA to TCA) and codon-108 (AGC to AAC), resulting in serine replacing leucine and asparagine replacing serine respectively in the corresponding gene product. The substitutions caused a decrease in pyrimethamine sensitivity. By mathematical modelling we determined that the mutation rate at a given position in DHFR was low and occurred at less than 2.5 x 10(-9) mutations/DHFR gene/replication. This result has important implications for Plasmodium genetic diversity and antimalarial drug therapy by demonstrating that even with low mutation rates anti-malarial resistance will inevitably arise when mutant alleles are selected under drug pressure.

Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 57 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Germany 1 2%
Vietnam 1 2%
Unknown 55 96%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Researcher 11 19%
Student > Ph. D. Student 7 12%
Student > Master 6 11%
Student > Bachelor 5 9%
Other 4 7%
Other 9 16%
Unknown 15 26%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 14 25%
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science 6 11%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 6 11%
Immunology and Microbiology 5 9%
Medicine and Dentistry 4 7%
Other 7 12%
Unknown 15 26%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 18. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 16 January 2015.
All research outputs
#1,989,705
of 25,457,858 outputs
Outputs from Parasitology
#88
of 2,817 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#1,507
of 40,370 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Parasitology
#2
of 11 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,457,858 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 92nd percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 2,817 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 6.0. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 96% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 40,370 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 96% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 11 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 81% of its contemporaries.