Genes Research to Aid Third World Disease Fight

Three of the most devastating diseases of the developing world could soon be eradicated after a breakthrough in understanding how they are programmed to be human parasites. Scientists have decoded the genetic blueprints of the parasitic microbes responsible for African sleeping sickness, Chagas’ disease and leishmaniasis, which collectively affect up to 30 million people and endanger a further 500 million.

Knowing the sequence of genetic ‘letters’ that make up the alphabet of the microbes’ genes should allow scientists to design drugs and vaccines against the three killers. At present, there are no vaccines or cheap, effective remedies against any of the parasites, each transmitted by the bites of different insects.

More than 250 scientists from 21 nations ” including the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge ” helped in the pounds 18m project to decode the genomes of the three single-celled organisms belonging to parasites called trypanosomatids.

The research, in the journal Science, shows that each parasite has a set of some 6,200 ‘core genes’ arranged in a similar way that appear to play a vital role for the parasitic organisms. Peter Myler, from the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, said the mapping aids design of specific drugs that target one or all of the three parasites.

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