Fed: Scientists pin down malaria resistance protein

AAP General News (Australia)
02-24-2000
Fed: Scientists pin down malaria resistance protein

By Rada Rouse, National Medical Correspondent

BRISBANE, Feb 24 AAP - Australian scientists have discovered how the parasite which
causes malaria becomes resistant to drugs, raising hope of developing new treatments to
tackle the deadly disease.

A research team headed by Dr Alan Cowman from Melbourne's Walter and Eliza Hall Institute
of Medical Research has discovered a gene crucial to the parasite's reaction to chemical
attack.

They have shown that a protein called Pgh1 is involved in mutations of the gene which
prevent the drug …