• Table of Contents • C&EN Classifieds • Today's Headlines • Cover Story • Editor's Page • Business • Government & Policy • Science & Technology • ACS News • Calendars • Books • Career & Employment • Special Reports • Nanotechnology • What's That Stuff?          Back Issues 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998  Safety Letters  Chemcyclopedia ACS Members can sign up to receive C&EN e-mail newsletter.   Join ACS			October 7, 2002 Volume 80, Number 40 CENEAR 80 40 p. 10 ISSN 0009-2347 GENOMICS MALARIA MAPPED Sequences of parasite and mosquito genomes offer disease-control targets PAMELA ZURER Simultaneous publication of genome sequences for the parasite that causes malaria and for the mosquito that carries it opens the door to new drugs, vaccines, and insecticides for combating the lethal disease. DECODED Humans are the favorite food of Anopheles gambiae, the most important malaria vector in Africa. COURTESY OF JAMES GATHANY/CDC "We are seeing now the catapulting of the science of malaria into the era of genomics and all of the attendant advantages," says Anthony S. Fauci, director of NIH's National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases. NIAID joined four other organizations in funding the six-year international effort to sequence the genome of Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite that causes the deadliest form of malaria in humans [Nature, 419, 498 (2002)]. NIAID also funded the consortium that in less than one year sequenced the genome of Anopheles gambiae, the mosquito that transmits most cases of malaria in Africa [Science, 298, 129 (2002)]. Malaria infects more than 300 million people every year, and more than a million die--90% of them children under five, according to the World Health Organization. The disease is rampant in Africa, largely because of the parasite's growing resistance to drugs and the mosquito's to insecticides. A plethora of papers accompanying the sequences shows that researchers are already capitalizing on the findings. For example, a proteomics analysis of the life cycle of the parasite offers leads to components of a malaria vaccine (Nature, page 537). Researchers have identified genes involved in the mosquito's sense of smell and taste, which could be blocked to keep the insects from zeroing in on humans (Science, page 176). Yet another study shows that P. falciparum became resistant to the drug chloroquine through mutations in a single gene (Science, page 210).-- Top Chemical & Engineering News Copyright © 2002 American Chemical Society			Related Stories Vaccines By Automated Synthesis [C&EN, Jan. 21, 2002] Drug researchers target biochemistry of malaria parasites [C&EN, Sept. 6, 1999] Giving Bugs A Run For Their Money [C&EN, Mar. 1, 1999] Related papers Nature, 419, 498 (2002) Science, 298, 129 (2002) E-mail this article to a friend Print this article E-mail the editor
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