Saudi Achievement: Discovery of a Gene that Disrupts Malaria Reproduction

In a new achievement, a research team at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Saudi Arabia, in collaboration with researchers from KAUST, has identified a gene responsible for the reproduction of malaria parasites within red blood cells. The researchers demonstrated that malaria parasites cannot reproduce inside red blood cells as usual when the gene responsible for their reproduction is disabled. They explained that disrupting the gene limits the ability of malaria parasites to invade other cells in the blood, which alleviates the symptoms of the disease and reduces the spread of the infection. This discovery also paves the way for developing more effective drugs to treat Plasmodium falciparum malaria, which causes more than half a million deaths each year.