In silico analysis of putative dormancy genes in Plasmodium vivax

[Display omitted] •Mauritanian I and North Korean are the highest diverse P. vivax genomes.•Selected putative dormancy genes are conserved and under purifying selection.•Some selected putative dormancy gene products interact in a protein-protein network.•Differential salvage of transferrin due to iron levels is the base of dormancy.•The regulation of dormancy is mediated by phosphateses/kinases. Plasmodium vivax is the most widely spread species causing human malaria. The control of malaria caused by P. vivax has been largely hampered by its ability to develop a dormant liver stage that can generate a new blood infection at different periods of time. Unfortunately, the mechanisms of dormancy in P. vivax have not been thoroughly elucidated to date. In this study, the putative dormancy genes were analyzed to select genes with less genetic variability to maintain the function of relapsing. Expression data concerning these genes were searched to support the selection. Protein interactions among selected gene products were identified based on known and predicted protein-protein interaction using String database. Potentially interacting proteins (n = 15) were used to propose a mechanism involved in dormancy based on the differential vesicular transport due to the iron available in the hepatocyte.