Malaria infection by sporozoite challenge induces high functional antibody titres against blood stage antigens after a DNA prime, poxvirus boost vaccination strategy in Rhesus macaques.

Background: A DNA prime, poxvirus (COPAK) boost vaccination regime with four antigens, i.e. a combination of two Plasmodium knowlesi sporozoite (csp/ssp2) and two blood stage (ama1/msp142) genes, leads to self-limited parasitaemia in 60% of rhesus monkeys and survival from an otherwise lethal infection with P.

Loss of balancing selection in the betaS globin locus.

Background: Probably the best example of the rise and maintenance of balancing selection as an evolutionary trend is the role of S-haemoglobin (HbS - rs334) in protecting from malaria. Yet, the dynamics of such a process remains poorly understood, particularly in relation to different malaria transmission rates and the genetic background of the affected populations.

Methods: We investigated the association of haemoglobin HbS in protection from clinical episodes of malaria in two populations/villages where malaria is endemic, but mostly presenting in mild clinical forms.

Co-introgression of Y-chromosome haplogroups and the sickle cell gene across Africa's Sahel.

The Sahel that extends from the Atlantic Ocean to the Ethiopian highland is a historical reservoir of Africa's cultures and grandest populations and a known arena of ancient and recent migrations. We are interested in the issue whether such migrations were also carriers of genetic traits and whether this introgression could be associated with population genetic markers. Based on analysis of Y-chromosome haplogroups, we present evidence that the sickle gene, one of the major protective polymorphisms known in malaria, has in fact found its way only recently to the gene pool of the populations in eastern Sahel.