Background
The molecular basis of chloroquine resistance (CQR) in
Plasmodium falciparum is still relatively unclear, and the association of point mutations in different genes with CQR has been largely studied in the last decade. In 2000, the
pfcrt gene was identified, which appears to play a crucial role in CQR. A lysine to threonine change at position 76 (K76T), which was subsequently found in every
in vitro CQR parasite from around the world, was identified as an important mutation associated with CQR [
1]. Although this mutation is not the sole requirement for determining of CQR, the absence of the K76T mutation is highly predictive of CQ sensitivity
in vitro and CQ efficacy
in vivo[
2].
Similarly, the molecular basis of atovaquone resistance in
P. falciparum has been suggested to be due to mutations in the cytochrome
bc1 gene of the parasite mitochondrial genome, which prevents binding of atovaquone to the cytochrome [
3]. In particular, mutations at codon 268 are associated with atovaquone/proguanil treatment failure
in vivo and can be used as possible resistance markers. Both the amino acid changes, Y268N and Y268S, result in extremely high increase in resistance levels [
4]. There are also recent reports of Y268C mutants that are also highly resistant to atovaquone [
5].
One of the most common methods for single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) detection is the conduct of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) flanking the mutation site, followed by sequencing for confirmation [
6]. This process is however both laborious and expensive. Following the development of real-time PCR and relevant fluorescence detection systems, SNP detection became possible using fluorescent probe chemistries, such as the 5'nuclease PCR assay and fluorescent resonance energy transfer (FRET) PCR. These assays confer specificity while eliminating the need for confirmation
via sequencing. Subsequently, PCR assays for the detection of chloroquine resistance based on these technologies were developed and widely used [
7‐
9]. However, the use of fluorescent probes is limited to single SNP detection per probe and prior knowledge of the SNP location to design the detection probes. Thus, this method is relatively expensive especially in a multiplex PCR where several different fluorescent probes are required. In addition, there may be more SNPs at a particular locus than combination fluorescent probes that can be utilized. Hence, high resolution melting (HRM) analysis offers potential as a solution and here a PCR-HRM method for distinguishing between wild type and drug-resistant
P. falciparum strains in a single reaction without the need for multiple fluorescent probes is presented.
The utility of HRM analysis for detection of point mutations in
P. falciparum genes associated with drug resistance has been demonstrated earlier [
10]. The technique employed, however, is heavily reliant on the resolution power of the equipment as differences in melting temperature (Tm) between wild-type and mutant-type isolates are less than 2°C. Furthermore, as the size of the amplicon increases, the ability to detect small Tm difference decreases, thereby imposing a restriction on PCR primer design. Here, asymmetric PCRs were developed free from amplicon size restriction as the haplotype discrimination depends on a short (20 - 35 nucleotides), unlabeled 3'-blocked probe and LC Green Plus
® fluorescent dye. The assay is based on differences in melting temperature between perfect matches and mismatches under the probes and has been shown to be useful for SNP genotyping in genetic studies [
11].
Methods
Materials
DNA from reference strains of P. falciparum (harbouring the known chloroquine resistance profiles) were provided by Malaria Research and Reference Reagent Resource Center (MR4) USA. These include MRA-152G, MRA-155G, MRA-156G, MRA-175G, MRA-202G and MRA-387G. DNA from these strains were used at a concentration of 1 pg/μl. Synthetic constructs were made for the atovaquone-resistant profile types Y268N and Y268S and were used at a concentration of 1 fmol/μl. A P. falciparum blood sample with atovaquone-resistant profile Y268C was obtained from Dr Colin Sutherland, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK. 53 other isolates of P. falciparum used in this study were part of a collection from DSO National Laboratories which were previously checked via PCR for mono-infection.
DNA was extracted from P. falciparum positive blood samples (parasitaemia greater than 0.05%) using the QIAamp DNA Mini Kit (Qiagen Inc). 200 μl of blood sample was used for extraction and DNA eluted in 100 μl of elution buffer.
PCR-HRM for the detection of chloroquine resistance
Primers used were previously described [
1] and probes were designed using Primer 3 software [
12]. The PCR was set up in a final volume of 10 μl containing 1 μl of DNA, 75 nM of CRTD1 primer (5'-TGTGCTCATGTGTTTAAACTT-3'), 375 nM of CRTD2 primer (5'-CAAAACTATAGTTACCAATTTTG-3'), 500 nM of CRTWT probe (5'-TGTATGTGTAATGAATAAAATTTTTGC-phosphate-3'), 375 μM dNTP mix, 1× reaction buffer, 1× LC Green Plus (Idaho Technology Inc., USA), 6.875 mM MgCl
2 and 0.5 U of Platinum Taq polymerase (Invitrogen Corp). After overlaying the PCR mix with 20 μl mineral oil, the following conditions were used: 95°C for 6 min; 60 cycles of 95°C for 15 s and 55°C for 1 min; followed by 94°C for 30 s and 25°C for 30 s for heteroduplex formation and 15°C for storage. This is followed by melt curve analysis on the LightScanner (Idaho Technology Inc., USA).
Real-time PCR for the detection of chloroquine resistance
The chloroquine resistance haplotypes for all
P. falciparum isolates were determined using the multiplex real-time PCR assay developed by Sutherland
et al[
8].
PCR-HRM for the detection of atovaquone resistance
Primers and probes were designed using Primer 3 software. The PCR was set up in a final volume of 10 μl containing 1 μl of DNA, 50 nM of cytbF primer (5'-CACATCCTGATAATGCTATCG-3'), 250 nM of cytbR primer (5'-AGCTGGTTTACTTGGAACAG-3'), 500 nM of WT probe (5'-GGTACTTTCTACCATTTTATGCAATG-phosphate-3'), 100 μM dNTP mix, 1× reaction buffer, 1× LC Green Plus, 1.5 mM MgCl2 and 0.5 U of Platinum Taq polymerase. After overlaying the PCR mix with 20 μl mineral oil, the following conditions were used: 95°C for 6 min; 60 cycles of 94°C for 10 s, 55°C for 10 s and 72°C for 10 s; 72°C for 3 min, followed by 94°C for 30 s and 25°C for 30 s for heteroduplex formation and 15°C for storage. This is followed by melt curve analysis on the LightScanner (Idaho Technology Inc., USA).
PCR-RFLP for the detection of atovaquone resistance
The atovaquone resistance haplotypes for all
P. falciparum isolates were determined using the PCR-RFLP method developed by Schwöbel
et al[
4].
Sensitivity of HRM assay in single and mixed strains reactions
In order to determine HRM assay sensitivity, serial dilutions of DNA (10-1 to 10-5 ng/μl) were tested. The pfcrt HRM assay was carried out on three different reference strains, MRA-102G (CVMNK haplotype), MRA-152G (SVMNT haplotype) and MRA-150G (CVIET haplotype) in duplicates. The same procedure was also performed on the atovaquone HRM assay but only with MRA-102G wild type reference strain.
The ability of the method to detect a minority haplotype in a mixture of wild- and mutant-type pfcrt alleles was also assessed. DNA concentration of both MRA-102G (CVMNK) and MRA-150G (CVIET) reference strains were adjusted to 0.1 ng/μl and combined to have the following CVMNK/CVIET ratio: 10:90, 30:70, 50:50, 70:30, 90:10.
DNA Sequencing
Sanger's dideoxy sequencing was carried out on Exo-SAP purified PCR products using Big Dye Terminator v3.1 chemistry and electrophorezed on the Applied Biosystem 3730 Genetic Analyzer (Applied Biosystems, USA).
Discussion
The PCR-HRM technique developed here is relatively inexpensive compared to the use of multiple fluorescent probes or sequencing [
13]. It provides a quick way to differentiate between drug-resistant strains and drug-sensitive strains using only a single unlabeled probe in an asymmetric PCR followed by a melt curve which is easily done without further chemistries. This technique is an improvement on the assay developed by Andriantsoanirina
et al[
10], as the use of the unlabeled probe allows for very clear distinction between wild-type and mutant type strains. Difficulties may be encountered in determining the exact resistant haplotype due to the small difference in Tm if PCR conditions and reagents used are not optimal or there is a lack of controls for each haplotype in the run. However, determination of drug resistance on a qualitative scale (i.e. sensitive or drug resistant) is relatively easy with this assay due to the larger Tm differences between wild type (sensitive) haplotype and resistant haplotypes.
Its ease of use is especially observed for detection of atovaquone resistance where alternatives currently available are sequencing and PCR-RFLP [
4]. Development of a multiplex 5'nuclease PCR assay to differentiate between the four haplotypes is not impossible but will likely require the use of multiple Lock-nucleic acid (LNA) or Minor grove binding (MGB) fluorescent-tagged probes which adds to the cost of the assay.
In addition, the use of HRM allows for the detection of new variants from the wild type, which could potentially be drug-resistant as well. It is predicted that the PCR-HRM method developed for
pfcrt will be useful for the detection and differentiation of CVMNT, CVIKT and SVIET haplotypes discovered in Papua New Guinea [
14] from wild type as well. This is further exemplified in the detection of two
P. falciparum strains harbouring a point mutation just upstream of the variable region in
pfcrt gene and confirmed by sequencing. The importance of this mutation is not known but it would have gone unnoticed if only the 5'nuclease PCR assay was used for detection purposes.
In this study, two systems were used in combination (conventional thermal cycler and the LightScanner) to generate the required result. There are now systems in the market that can do PCR and HRM together such as the Roche Lightcycler 480, Applied Biosystems ABI 7500 Fast PCR system as well as the Qiagen Rotor-Gene 6000 and it is expected that as such systems become more commonplace, it will provide a better option for seamless operation. However this needs to be tested to ensure that the HRM is of sufficient resolution power and robust enough to differentiate between mutant haplotypes consistently.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Mr Victor Koh Wee Hong of DSO National Laboratories for the use of his collection of Plasmodium falciparum isolates for the testing and validation work. We also thank Dr Colin Sutherland and Martina Burke from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine UK for providing us with samples of the P. falciparum isolate harbouring the Y268C mutation. This study was supported by the Ministry of Defence, Singapore.
Authors' contributions
LSHG carried out the PCR-HRM studies and drafted the manuscript. JPL carried out the 5'nuclease PCR and PCR-RFLP studies. JPL conceived of the study, participated in its design and coordination as well as revision of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.