Understanding and controlling malaria through evolution

Dan Neafsey

Malaria is a disease of seemingly gratuitous complexity, caused byPlasmodium parasites which must complete intricate phases of their life cycle in two very different hosts: vertebrates and mosquitoes. Understanding the adaptations that facilitate and maintain the relationships between the members of this co-evolutionary triangle can give us insight into the fascinating biology of malaria, and also provide keys to controlling or eventually eliminating this disease. Daniel Neafsey, associate director of the Broad’s Genomic Center for Infectious Disease, will describe how recent developments in genome sequencing are giving us new perspectives on malaria, a disease that has been called the strongest known force of evolutionary selection in the recent history of the human genome.