A study published on Nature by Modiano et al ("La Sapienza" University, Rome) demonstrated that variants in genes that have been shown to be protective against malaria (hemoglobins C (HbC, beta6Glu-->Lys) and S (beta6Glu-->Val)) were associated with an increase of parasite transmission from the human host to the anopheles vector. Here, KRT88P is linked to malaria.