Genetics underpinning antimalarial drug resistance revealed

(Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute) Researchers have identified a series of mutations that could help to improve early detection of resistance to our most effective antimalarial drug. The largest genome-wide association study of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum to date reveals that the Kelch 13 gene, a known marker of resistance to the drug artemisinin, only works if a set of other mutations is also present.