Sickle cell anemia as malaria defense

Researchers get a glimpse into how mutated hemoglobin genes defend their cells against attack by a malaria parasite.Sickle cell anemia causes pain, fatigue and delayed growth, all because of a lack of enough healthy red blood cells. And yet genetic mutations that cause it — recessive genes for the oxygen-carrying hemoglobin protein — have survived natural selection because they also seem to provide a natural defense against malaria. Scientists have long known this, and they have long wondered how it worked.

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