Genome of Mosquito and Malaria Parasite on One Array

The first commercial array has been introduced that can be used to simultaneously study the entire expressed genomes of both the host mosquito, Anopheles gambiae, and the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum.

The array, a GeneChip Array from Affymetrix, Inc. (Santa Clara, CA, USA), interrogates over 22,000 transcripts and enables scientists to understand the molecular dynamics of the parasite-host relationship. The array was developed in collaboration with the Malaria Research Institute at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (Baltimore, MD, USA). The array will be available to qualified registered users of the Malaria Research and Reference Reagent Resource Center (MR4, Manassas, VA, USA) and will also be available for direct purchase from Affymetrix.

"This concomitant analysis of host-parasite gene expression will aid in our basic understanding of the complex relationship between the parasite and its insect vector,” noted Dr. Alan Scott of Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute.

The new array will enable researchers to study the molecular networks required for Plasmodium parasite development and reveal unique targets and approaches for chemotherapeutic and immunologic intervention, states Affymetrix. Also, the array will help researchers better understand many Plasmodium genes which have no known function, possibly generating novel targets for intervention.





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