Question

Persons suffering from sickle cell anaemia are at an advantage in Malaria infected area. Explain.

Answer 1

Sickle cell anaemia is a genetic disorder. This disease is caused by a variant form of haemoglobin in red blood cells. There is replacement of gluatmine in place of valine in the 6th position in hemoglobin chain. The individuals who are homozygous for this disorder die at an early stage. In heterozygotes also, the red blood cells with variant form of haemoglobin become sickle shaped. Due to this shape, the RBCs were unable to bind oxygen efficiently. Since sickle shaped RBCs gets destroyed which effectively kills the malaria parasite. This allows the individual heterozygous for this variant to be able to cope with malaria infections much better than normal person.