Malaria genomes 'completed'

but will it really benefit malaria endemic countries?

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With another highly coordinated series of press releases, embargoes and precision-timed conferences, Nature and Science announced that the genomes behind malaria are as good as finished. Nature concentrates on the infective agent Plasmodium falciparum and its rat equivalent P. yoelii yoelii, while Science sheds light on the mosquito vector, Anopheles gambiae.

Ever since French pathologist Charles-Louis Laveron's late 18th century discovery of the link between Plasmodium sp, mosquitoes, and malaria, the fight has been on to rid the world of this scourge. Currently, however, the disease has the upper hand. More people are infected than ever before, with three children dying of the disease each minute.

The question now is how to make best use of this heroic piece of sequencing? Opinions are divided.

As co-author of the key P. falciparum genome paper, and leader of the effort at The Sanger Centre, Cambridge, UK, Neil Hall is understandably upbeat, seeing ...

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