Breakthrough In Malaria Research Claimed
- The scientists of Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge have carried out a research on malaria, and they have been quite successful in solving the long-term mystery of malaria biology.
- Dr. Oliver Billker of Sanger Institute and Dr. Andy Waters of Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology at University of Glasgow, were heading the research group. They have discovered AP2-G, a single protein that acts as a master-switch to block the process of malaria parasite from spreading the disease.
- It is an important element needed to switch the genes to control the growth of forerunner malaria cells in male and female parasites. This discovery holds great importance, and it will help scientists design efficient malaria-control strategies in future.
- In a full lifespan of parasites, the sexual reproduction takes place only in the gut of mosquito, which when it sucks the forerunner parasite cell from the individual’s blood. The present medical practices tend to kill the sexless parasites from the blood. Actually, it is the harmless stage of the life of malaria parasite.
- The only approved way to kill malaria from the entire region is to destroy sexual forms of malaria parasites that are responsible for transmitting the illness.
- To ensure this, the researchers had silenced or deactivated the AP2-G gene of parasite, and found that the influenced parasite loses its’ ability to turn into the sexually active parasites.
- It means, the parasite will not travel from infected person back to mosquito to carry on the cycle. It will eventually break off the transmission of parasite from one human to another.
- On the other hand, when the influenced gene was reset through the ‘gene treatment’, the parasite regained its ability to get into the sexual stage.
Exams Perspective:
- Vector borne diseases
- AP2-G protein