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Updated: Jul 14, 2026

Preventing the Spread of Malaria and Dengue Fever Using Genetically Modified Mosquitoes
Published on: July 4, 2007
Natural malaria infection in Anopheles gambiae is regulated by a single genomic control region
Michelle M Riehle1, Kyriacos Markianos, Oumou Niaré
1Center for Microbial and Plant Genomics and Department of Microbiology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
Abstract:
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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