Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficient red cells: resistance to infection by malarial parasites.
Erythrocyte mosaicism occurs in females heterozygous for glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency. In blood from female children with acute Plasmodium falciparum malaria the parasite rate was 2 to 80 times higher in normal than in deficient erythrocytes. This may be the mechanism whereby the gene for glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency confers selective advantage against malaria to heterozygous females, and thus may have attained the polymorphic frequency occurring in populations living in areas with endemic malaria.
D002675:Child, Preschool; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000201:enzymology*; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D005955:Glucosephosphate Dehydrogenase Deficiency / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008288:Malaria / Q000097:blood* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic