Performing crosses of two parasite strains with different phenotypic characteristics and then studying the resulting progeny is a fruitful method of exploring some of the genetic mechanisms underpinning these phenotypes. Genetic crosses also provide a means to analyse the contributions that different forms of mutation and meiotic recombination make to overall patterns of genome diversity. This study involved the sequencing and analysis of 7G8 with GB4 (Hayton et al, 2008; PMID: 18621009).

This study, as part of the P. falciparum Genetic Crosses project has:

• Sequenced the parents and progeny clones from the cross 7G8xGB4
• Performed the first integrated analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), INDELs, copy number variants (CNVs) and complex polymorphisms in P. falciparum, using Mendelian error rates as an indicator of genotypic accuracy
• Performed the first analysis of both crossover and non-crossover recombination rates in P. falciparum
• Released sequence data and variant calls open access

This research found that indels are exceptionally abundant in P. falciparum and more common than SNPs, while several instances of meiotic recombination were observed in copy number variants associated with drug resistance. Further details of this work can be found here: https://genome.cshlp.org/content/26/9/1288