University of Vermont  Variations on a Gene  Scientists around
the world who study malaria and the parasites that cause it will
breathe a collective sigh of relief this month when they read
UVM senior Katie St. Denis' research paper. It goes a long way
toward substantiating a commonly held -- yet unproven -- belief
about how to distinguish malaria parasite species.  Researchers
have been operating on an assumption that one gene in the DNA of
these parasites can be used as a marker for species
identification; that is, if the gene, cytochrome b, varies from
one parasite to another, you're looking at two different species
of parasites. While some research has generated data for
parasites that infect humans with malaria, no comparative data
existed on parasites that infect non-human hosts.  St. Denis'
paper documenting her results, co-authored with biology
professor and adviser Joseph Schall, is now in press with the
Journal of Parasitology, one of the field's three journals of
record.  The supposition about how