title: Natural malaria infection in Anopheles gambiae is regulated by a single genomic control region.
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.
authors.affiliation: Center for Microbial and Plant Genomics and Department of Microbiology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
authors.forename: Michelle M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Riehle
authors.forename: Kyriacos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Markianos
authors.forename: Oumou
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Niaré
authors.forename: Jiannong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Abdoulaye M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Touré
authors.forename: Belco
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Podiougou
authors.forename: Frederick
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Oduol
authors.forename: Sory
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Diawara
authors.forename: Mouctar
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Diallo
authors.forename: Boubacar
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Coulibaly
authors.forename: Ahmed
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ouatara
authors.forename: Leonid
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kruglyak
authors.forename: Sékou F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Traoré
authors.forename: Kenneth D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Vernick
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology / Q000469:parasitology*; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D005260:Female; D017344:Genes, Insect; D008040:Genetic Linkage; D014644:Genetic Variation; D049750:Genome, Insect; D006801:Humans; D007113:Immunity, Innate / Q000235:genetics; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000235:genetics / Q000469:parasitology*; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000469:parasitology; D008297:Male; D008302:Mali; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D010375:Pedigree; D010641:Phenotype; D010962:Plasmodium berghei / Q000276:immunology / Q000472:pathogenicity; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000276:immunology / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D034622:RNA Interference
chemical_list: D019476:Insect Proteins