This newly discovered protective variation is in the glycophorin C gene, which codes for a receptor on red blood cells. Previous research has found this same gene variant in as much as 46% of the population in coastal areas of Papua New Guinea, one of the islands of the Melanesia group.
People with the gene variant–who are considered “Gerbich-negative”–might have lower rates of “parasite invasion” into their red blood cells, which could significantly reduce the severity of the disease. “The human host has had huge selective pressure placed on (it) by malaria infection, resulting in selection of mutations such as Gerbich-negativity,” according to Alan Cowman, a researcher in Melbourne, Australia associated with this work. For its part, Cowman added, the malaria parasite has developed numerous ways to get around human defenses such as the immune system. “I think this is a good example of the co-evolution of the human host and an important infectious disease,” he said. Thus the raging biowarfare between plasmodiums and humans continues.