Genome-wide association studies to map genetic variation underlying mosquito susceptibility to human malaria

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Malaria killed nearly 800,000 people in 2009 alone, mostly children in Africa. Targeting the mosquitoes that transmit the disease has proven to be the most effective strategy towards reducing the number of malaria cases. As mosquitoes tend to bite at night and indoors, the increased use of bednets in recent years has contributed to the decrease of malaria cases. However, some mosquitoes are showing evidence of increased biting in the daytime and outdoors where bednets offer no protection, so new methods of control must be developed. Based on the fact that some mosquitoes are better malaria transmitters than others, this project aims to investigate the differences in the genetic make-up of these mosquitoes using a technology that intimately examines the mosquito genome. This comparison and follow-up tests will identify genes that are associated with mosquito capacity to carry the most deadly of the human malarias. Discovering the mosquito genes that have a big impact on malaria transmission is an essential step towards the promising strategy of developing drugs and vaccines that target the parasite while it is in the mosquito.