Malaria and mosquito genomes sequenced, but funding falls short.

The genetic code of the complete genomes of Plasmodium falciparum, the most lethal of the several malaria parasites, and its major African carrier, the mosquito Anopheles gambiae, were published in Nature and Science this October, bringing these tiny organisms into the same exalted domain as the human genome itself. Already it turns out that 550 of P. falciparum's 5300 genes are closely related to plant genes — opening the way to research on new drugs based on insecticides. The genes code for — or create — a recently discovered organelle in the body of the parasite called an apicoplast. The apicoplast in turn is very similar to the chloroplast in plant cells, the body that allows plants to photo-synthesize, or grow in sunlight. This doesn't mean that malaria parasites, which are animals, can grow in sunlight. It just means that during their evolution one of them must have absorbed the chloroplast, probably from an alga, found it useful for other purposes, and grew faster and out-competed their colleagues, creating the P. falciparum we know today. The modern organism uses the apicoplast to make fatty acids, similar to cholesterol in humans, that are essential to its survival. From the early genome data three years ago, a German group identified a particular mechanism in the apicoplast that looked ripe for attack (Science 1999; 285:1573-6), and recommended trying an existing drug called fosmido-mycin, which had been developed for urinary infections; the group showed it cured mice of malaria, and is now in late clinical trial. This was one of the first fruits of genome mapping, and represents just one kind of knowledge it can give us: comparative genomics, which entails comparing the letters and organization of the genome of one species with those of another. It may prove useful in accelerating research towards new treatments. Similar stories are already emerging from Anopheles gambiae, the key mosquito vector of malaria. Its gene sequences are being compared with those of the famous laboratory fruitfly, Drosophila melanogaster, which itself has been exhaustively researched for several decades. Now it seems we can identify, by comparison and contrast with Drosophila, the genes in the mosquito which are responsible for the malaria parasite's survival in the mosquito gut, as well as genes for moulting, reproduction , and successful blood feeding. All these could form new points of attack on the mosquito. Knowledge of these genomes and the human genome …