Artemisinin resistance-associated polymorphisms at the K13-propeller locus are absent in plasmodium falciparum isolates from Haiti

Antimalarial drugs are a key tool in malaria elimination programs. With the emergence of artemisinin resistance in southeast Asia, an effort to identify molecular markers for surveillance of resistant malaria parasites is underway. Non-synonymous mutations in the kelch propeller domain (K13-propeller) in Plasmodium falciparum have been associated with artemisinin resistance in samples from southeast Asia, but additional studies are needed to characterize this locus in other P. falciparum populations with different levels of artemisinin use. Here, we sequenced the K13-propeller locus in 82 samples from Haiti, where limited government oversight of non-governmental organizations may have resulted in low-level use of artemisinin-based combination therapies. We detected a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) at nucleotide 1,359 in a single isolate. Our results contribute to our understanding of the global genomic diversity of the K13-propeller locus in P. falciparum populations.