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Natural Malaria Infection in Anopheles gambiae Is Regulated by a Single Genomic Control Region

2006; American Association for the Advancement of Science; Volume: 312; Issue: 5773 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1126/science.1124153

1095-9203

Michelle M. Riehle, Kyriacos Markianos, Oumou Niaré, Jiannong Xu, Jun Li, Abdoulaye M. Touré, Belco Podiougou, Frederick Oduol, Sory Ibrahim Diawara, Mouctar Diallo, Boubacar Coulibaly, Ahmed Ouatara, Leonid Kruglyak, Sékou F. Traorè, Kenneth D. Vernick,

Invertebrate Immune Response Mechanisms

We surveyed an Anopheles gambiae population in a West African malaria transmission zone for naturally occurring genetic loci that control mosquito infection with the human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. The strongest Plasmodium resistance loci cluster in a small region of chromosome 2L and each locus explains at least 89% of parasite-free mosquitoes in independent pedigrees. Together, the clustered loci form a genomic Plasmodium-resistance island that explains most of the genetic variation for malaria parasite infection of mosquitoes in nature. Among the candidate genes in this chromosome region, RNA interference knockdown assays confirm a role in Plasmodium resistance for Anopheles Plasmodium-responsive leucine-rich repeat 1 (APL1), encoding a leucine-rich repeat protein that is similar to molecules involved in natural pathogen resistance mechanisms in plants and mammals.