This study describes for the first time a
PfATPase6 gene sequence polymorphism in Niger. It increases the number of West African samples sequences and mutations points, adding three new mutations points: 537, 561 and 716. Among the six different observed mutations, only one, the
N569K mutation, was relatively frequent – 17.2% of isolates. Dahlstrom
et al [
9] had also found a high prevalence of this mutation in Zanzibar (36%) and Tanzania (29%). This codon was out of the Menegon
et al [
16] studied gene zone, as were the two new found 357 and 561 mutations. The
pfATPaseS769N mutation was absent in these Niger samples, as it had been shown in China [
17] and in Tanzania tested either by DNA-microarrays [
18] or by sequencing [
9]. The
pfATPaseS769N mutation has been recently described as a potential molecular marker for
P. falciparum resistance to artemisinin [
4]. The quasi-absence of this mutation in African samples [
19] – since its first report, it had only been found once by Cojean
et al [
8] – did not disprove this hypothesis. Recently, a study from Menegon
et al [
16], carried out a polymorphism study of
PfATPase in African isolates at codons 402 and 431, which the present work did not target. In the Niger study, there was no correlation between this mutation and other factors, such as village, age or time of collection. These factors have been correlated with chloroquine and pyrimethamine resistance in previous work [
14]. The same previous study checked for five
PfATPase 6 gene SNPs (538, 574, 623, 683 and 769) by DNA-microarrays [
20]. By DNA-microarrays, the
pfATPaseA623E mutation was found in 4.7% of the Niger samples [
14], but sequencing did not confirm this.
The present work showed six different mutations for 87 samples of Niger, while Dahlstrom
et al found 31 among 302 samples in Zanzibar and three among 39 Tanzanian samples [
9]. Menegon
et al found seven mutations sites for 71 specimens from west, central and south-east Africa [
16], including Madagascar. All these figures are comparable and, in a given geographical zone, such molecular variation has to be linked with the sampling effort, the number of samples, but also of sequenced base pairs in a given genomic area.