An international team of boffins have moved a step forward for finding a cure against malaria by creating a genome-scale map of genetic variation for its parasite.
December 12, 2006 (Press Release) --
An international team of boffins have moved a step forward for finding a cure against malaria by creating a genome-scale map of genetic variation for its parasite.
The team, led by scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, together with researchers in Senegal, completed a genome-wide map that charts the genetic variability of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, including an initial catalogue of nearly 47,000 specific genetic differences among parasites sampled worldwide.
Initial use of the map has already unlocked new genes that may be involved in the resistance of the disease to current drugs, the researchers state.
Senior author Dyann Wirth, a professor and chairman of the department of immunology and infectious diseases at the Harvard School of Public Health and the co-director of the Broad Institute`s Infectious Disease Initiative, said that the study was important as it gave boffins a look at the genetic variations across the entire malaria parasite genome.
"Malaria remains a significant threat to global public health, driven in part by the genetic changes in the parasite that causes the disease. This study gives us one of the first looks at genetic variation across the entire malaria parasite genome — a critical step toward a comprehensive genetic tool for the malaria research community," Nature Genetics quoted him, as saying.
In an effort to get a broad picture of genetic variability — worldwide and genome-wide — the boffins analyzed more than 50 different P. falciparum, the deadliest of the four parasites that cause malaria in humans, samples from diverse geographic locations.
The research included the complete genome sequencing of two well-studied samples as well as extensive DNA analyses of 16 additional isolates.
By comparing the DNA sequences to each other and to the P. falciparum genome sequenced in 2002, the researchers uncovered extensive differences, including 47,000 single letter changes called single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) which represents more than double the expected level of diversity in the parasite`s DNA.
One of the map`s strengths is its ability to reveal evolutionary differences among parasites, something that can shed light on the genes responsible for malaria drug resistance — a major obstacle to adequate control of the disease.
Using the genetic map to compare parasites exposed to different anti-malarial drugs, the scientists identified a new region that is strongly implicated in resistance to the drug pyrimethamine, and also confirmed a region of the genome known to be involved in chloroquine drug resistance.
source: http://www.zeenews.com/
The team, led by scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, together with researchers in Senegal, completed a genome-wide map that charts the genetic variability of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, including an initial catalogue of nearly 47,000 specific genetic differences among parasites sampled worldwide.
Initial use of the map has already unlocked new genes that may be involved in the resistance of the disease to current drugs, the researchers state.
Senior author Dyann Wirth, a professor and chairman of the department of immunology and infectious diseases at the Harvard School of Public Health and the co-director of the Broad Institute`s Infectious Disease Initiative, said that the study was important as it gave boffins a look at the genetic variations across the entire malaria parasite genome.
"Malaria remains a significant threat to global public health, driven in part by the genetic changes in the parasite that causes the disease. This study gives us one of the first looks at genetic variation across the entire malaria parasite genome — a critical step toward a comprehensive genetic tool for the malaria research community," Nature Genetics quoted him, as saying.
In an effort to get a broad picture of genetic variability — worldwide and genome-wide — the boffins analyzed more than 50 different P. falciparum, the deadliest of the four parasites that cause malaria in humans, samples from diverse geographic locations.
The research included the complete genome sequencing of two well-studied samples as well as extensive DNA analyses of 16 additional isolates.
By comparing the DNA sequences to each other and to the P. falciparum genome sequenced in 2002, the researchers uncovered extensive differences, including 47,000 single letter changes called single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) which represents more than double the expected level of diversity in the parasite`s DNA.
One of the map`s strengths is its ability to reveal evolutionary differences among parasites, something that can shed light on the genes responsible for malaria drug resistance — a major obstacle to adequate control of the disease.
Using the genetic map to compare parasites exposed to different anti-malarial drugs, the scientists identified a new region that is strongly implicated in resistance to the drug pyrimethamine, and also confirmed a region of the genome known to be involved in chloroquine drug resistance.
source: http://www.zeenews.com/
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