Evolution of the Multi-Domain Structures of Virulence Genes in the Human Malaria Parasite, Plasmodium falciparum
Figure 5
Evolution of domain associations.
a) Simulated timeseries of the different domain combinations grouped by the degree of diversities of their binding domains shows an evolutionary advantage and dominance of genes whose binding domains have similar levels of diversity (low-low or high-high). b) Heat map of the long-term average frequency distribution of all possible domain combinations (taken from the last 30 years of the timeseries in a) showing significantly higher representation of genes with similar domain diversities. c) Bar graph of the long-term (30 year) average domain diversity associations from all 400 variants in the population showing a positive correlation between the levels of diversity at each binding domain.