Background Thrombospondin-related adhesive protein (TRAP) is a transmembrane protein that plays a crucial role during the invasion of Plasmodium falciparum into liver cells. As a potential malaria vaccine candidate, the genetic diversity and natural selection of Pf TRAP was assessed and the global Pf TRAP polymorphism pattern was described. Methods 153 blood spot samples from Bioko malaria patients were collected during 2016–2018 and the target TRAP gene was amplified. Together with the sequences from database, nucleotide diversity and natural selection analysis, and the structural prediction were preformed using bioinformatical tools. Results A total of 119 Bioko Pf TRAP sequences were amplified successfully. On Bioko Island, Pf TRAP shows its high degree of genetic diversity and heterogeneity, with π value for 0.01046 and Hd for 0.99. The value of dN–dS (6.2231, p < 0.05) hinted at natural selection of Pf TRAP on Bioko Island. Globally, the African Pf TRAPs showed more diverse than the Asian ones, and significant genetic differentiation was discovered by the fixation index between African and Asian countries (Fst > 0.15, p < 0.05). 667 Asian isolates clustered in 136 haplotypes and 739 African isolates clustered in 528 haplotypes by network analysis. The mutations I116T, L221I, Y128F, G228V and P299S were predicted as probably damaging by PolyPhen online service, while mutations L49V, R285G, R285S, P299S and K421N would lead to a significant increase of free energy difference (ΔΔG > 1) indicated a destabilization of protein structure. Conclusions Evidences in the present investigation supported that Pf TRAP gene from Bioko Island and other malaria endemic countries is highly polymorphic (especially at T cell epitopes), which provided the genetic information background for developing an Pf TRAP-based universal effective vaccine. Moreover, some mutations have been shown to be detrimental to the protein structure or function and deserve further study and continuous monitoring. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12936-021-03664-8.
【저자키워드】 malaria, natural selection, vaccine candidate, genetic diversity, Bioko Island, Plasmodium falciparum thrombospondin-related adhesive protein (PfTRAP),