Title: Blocking malaria transmission.

POPLINE Document Number: 276975

Source citation:

JAMA. Journal of the American Medical Association, 2004 Dec 15;292(23):2827.

Abstract:

Japanese researchers have identified a protein essential for the malarial parasite to essential for the malarial parasite to develop in mosquitoes to a stage when it can be transmitted to humans, a discovery that might point to a possible strategy for controlling the disease. The investigators reported their findings on November 1 in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. In earlier work, the authors discovered that Plasmodium, the malarial parasite, uses a membrane-disrupting protein to invade the livers of vertebrate hosts. Suspecting that the parasite may require a similar protein to infiltrate epithelial cells of the mosquito's midgut the parasite continues its development before moving into the mosquito salivary glands), the researchers screened the parasite's genome and found a protein they named membrane-attack ookinete protein (MAOP). Genetically altered Plasmodium with a defective MAOP gene were unable to rupture the midgut cell membrane and invade the mosquito's gut. (excerpt)

Keywords:

Japan
Malaria
Malaria Prevention
Disease Transmission Control
Parasite Control
Prevention and Control
Asia, Eastern
Asia
Developed Countries
Parasitic Diseases
Diseases
Public Health
Health