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[SANET-MG] gm insects or not



Recently a transgenic small regulatory RNA (RNAi) gene was introduced into Anopheles mosquitoes to prevent parasite infection of the insect that led to spread of Dengue virus infections of humans. Somewhat similar strategies have been developed to prevent infection of mosquitoes with the malaria parasite. The paper below indicates that mosquitoes may have natural resistance genes and that the parasite infected population could, in theory, be replaced with the naturally resistant mosquitoes. The natural resistance is based on leucine rich repeat (LRR) proteins LRR proteins are a group of proteins providing disease resistance in animals and plants alike (recently I wrote about the nucleotide binding site-leucine rich repeat (NBS-LRR) proteins providing late blight resistance in potato). The problem facing the malaria control genetic engineers is modifying mosquitoes for parasite resistance more effective than eliminating the mosquitoes sensitive to parasite infection. It is interesting to note that Bill and Melissa Gates have bankrolled the fight against malaria providing rich grant support. It is hoped that the natural genes will not be left out from the pot of money being provided for malaria research.
Science 28 April 2006:
Vol. 312. no. 5773, pp. 577 - 579
DOI: 10.1126/science.1124153

Reports
Natural Malaria Infection in Anopheles gambiae Is Regulated by a Single Genomic Control Region Michelle M. Riehle,1* Kyriacos Markianos,2* Oumou Niaré,3 Jiannong Xu,1 Jun Li,1 Abdoulaye M. Touré,3 Belco Podiougou,3 Frederick Oduol,1 Sory Diawara,3 Mouctar Diallo,3 Boubacar Coulibaly,3 Ahmed Ouatara,3 Leonid Kruglyak,4 Sékou F. Traoré,3 Kenneth D. Vernick1

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.

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