Geographic differentiation of polymorphism in the Plasmodium falciparum malaria vaccine candidate gene SERA5

► Inter-species divergence between P. falciparum and P. reichenowi is comparable to housekeeping genes. ► A signature of purifying selection was detected in the proenzyme and enzyme domains. ► No strong evidence for positive selection was detected for SNPs in the non-repeat regions. ► Biased geographical distribution was observed in SNPs and in the haplotypes of the OR and SR regions. ► Significant genetic differentiation was detected for SNPs and OR- and SR-haplotypes among parasite populations.