This mosquito is the main vector of malaria in Africa, where it is
estimated that a million children die each year from this disease. Malaria
is responsible for 300 to 500 million clinical cases across the world and
kills between 1.5 and 2.7 million people each year. The development of the
Anopheles gambiae's resistance to insecticides and the growing number
of the parasite's strains that are resistant to anti-malarial medication
is considerably holding back the controlling of the disease. As a result,
there is increasing study of interactions between the parasite and the
insect, with a view to finding in the mosquito the means of inhibiting
the development of the parasite. The study of the Anopheles gambiae's
genome should provide information that is crucial for the struggle against
this plague.
The Institut Pasteur has played a central role in organising an international programme for the sequencing of the Anopheles gambiae's entire genome. The Unité de Biochimie et Biologie moléculaire des Insectes (Molecular Biochemistry and Biology of Insects Unit), directed by Paul Brey, undertook, together with the Génoscope, the sequencing and annotation of 17,000 small sequences spread over the whole genome: this first step towards total sequencing aimed to establish markers within the genome. This enabled the creation of the first large database of chromosomal markers, available on the Internet. The entirety of the sequences obtained represented around 5% of the total genome, and has already led to the identification of 800 new mosquito genes.
Thanks to this work, the project for sequencing the whole of the mosquito's genome was able to come about. An international network was set up on 3 March 2001, at the Institut Pasteur, including: The Institut Pasteur and Génoscope (France), The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL, Germany), Notre-Dame University (United States), Celera Genomics (United States), The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR, United States), The Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB, Greece), the ONSA network (Brazil) and scientists who are specialists in the Anophele mosquito. It has been placed under the patronage of the PNUD/World Bank/World Health Organisation/Special programme of Research and Development relative to Tropical diseases (Geneva, Switzerland).
An outline of the Anopheles gambiae sequence should be available at the beginning of 2002 and the Institut Pasteur will take part in its annotation. Remember that malaria is a priority for the Institut as five research units have been dedicated to the study of this disease. In addition, a large "horizontal programme" of research on Anopheles gambiae will be put in place combining researchers from the Institut Pasteur in Paris and from institutes belonging to the International Network of the Instituts Pasteur and associated institutes, which will allow the data provided by the sequencing of the mosquito's genome to be fully exploited.
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