Malaria is the most widespread of all tropical diseases, and causes over one million deaths per year. Control efforts have limited the spread of malaria in some areas, but costs of preventitive measures and the lack of an effective vaccine have led to a resurgence of malaria in Latin America and Asia, and epidemics continue in sub-Saharan Africa. New methods for malaria control are necessary, and disrupting the crucial interactions between parasite and its insect host is one possible approach to control. In this study, I analyzed differential gene expression of Anopheles gambiae, the primary vector of human malaria, in response to a Plasmodium berghei infected-blood meal. Utilizing a microarray-based expression profiling approach, the expression of 5766 clones from two Anopheles gambiae cDNA libraries was evaluated. A total of 897 clones were identified as differentially expressed, and clustering analysis identified 11 distinct expression patterns. The roles of three individual genes, Anopheles gambiae chitinase-like domain-containing protein (ICHIT), superoxide dismutase, and peroxiredoxin, each displaying increased expression levels 30 hours post-blood meal, were considered in greater detail. Further molecular analyses of these and other parasite-responsive genes will be necessary to assess their possible involvement in the Plasmodium/Anopheles interactions required for malaria transmission.
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