Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficient red cells: resistance to infection by malarial parasites

Abstract

Erythrocyte mosaicism occurs in females heterozygous for glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency. In blood from female children with acute Plasmodium falciparum malaria the parasite rate was 2 to 80 times higher in normal than in deficient erythrocytes. This may be the mechanism whereby the gene for glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency confers selective advantage against malaria to heterozygous females, and thus may have attained the polymorphic frequency occurring in populations living in areas with endemic malaria.