DALLAS (UPI) -- U.S. and British scientists said they might have discovered why some species can nearly never interbreed -- a key insight into the basis of reproduction.
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center researchers said their finding might point to a possible malaria vaccine, thwarting the disease that kills about 1 million people each year, primarily children in sub-Saharan Africa.
The researchers found sexual reproduction begins with two genetically different steps: First, two reproductive cells must latch onto each other with one protein, and secondly they must fuse their membranes to form a single cell using a different protein.
The scientists collaborated with malaria experts at Imperial College London and found the parasite causing malaria also uses that two-step process. When they blocked "male" and "female" malarial cells from fusing, spread of the mosquito-borne disease was stopped.
The research is to appear in the April 14 issue of the journal Genes and Development and is now available at the journal's Web site.
Copyright 2008 by United Press International
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