Horizon 1 1 17 ACL : Articles dans des revues avec comité de lecture répertoriées par l'AERES Cell Host and Microbe [22 p.] AFRIQUE 2023 fdi:010088919 ENG Cell Host and Microbe 1931-3128 ISI:001139056200001 12 10.1016/j.chom.2023.10.019 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010088919 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/intranet/publi/2024-02/010088919.pdf 31 Horizon (IRD) The erythrocyte silent Duffy blood group phenotype in Africans is thought to confer resistance to Plasmodium vivax blood-stage infection. However, recent studies report P. vivax infections across Africa in Fy-negative individuals. This suggests that the globin transcription factor 1 (GATA-1) SNP underlying Fy negativity does not entirely abolish Fy expression or that P. vivax has developed a Fy-independent red blood cell (RBC) invasion pathway. We show that RBCs and erythroid progenitors from in vitro differentiated CD34 cells and from bone marrow aspirates from Fy-negative samples express a functional Fy on their surface. This suggests that the GATA-1 SNP does not entirely abolish Fy expression. Given these results, we developed an in vitro culture system for P. vivax and show P. vivax can invade erythrocytes from Duffy-negative individuals. This study provides evidence that Fy is expressed in Fy-negative individuals and explains their susceptibility to P. vivax with major implications and challenges for P. vivax malaria eradication. 050 ; 052 ; 020 UR261 Madagascar