Gut Microbiota Elicits a Protective Immune Response against Malaria Transmission
- Authors: Chong AS, Cowan PJ, Crompton PD, d'Apice AJ, Doumbo OK, Gomes J, Gozzelino R, Portugal S, Ramos S, Regalado A, Silveira H, Soares MP, Tran TM, Traore B, Yilmaz B
- Publication Year: 2014
- Journal: Cell
- Link: http://www.cell.com/abstract/S0092-8674(14)01425-1
Glycosylation processes are under high natural selection pressure, presumably because these can modulate resistance to infection. Here, we asked whether inactivation of the UDP-galactose:β-galactoside-α1-3-galactosyltransferase (α1,3GT) gene, which ablated the expression of the Galα1-3Galβ1-4GlcNAc-R (α-gal) glycan and allowed for the production of anti-α-gal antibodies (Abs) in humans, confers protection against Plasmodium spp. infection, the causative agent of malaria and a major driving force in human evolution.
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