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Science Daily— A Mayo Clinic researcher has discovered a target site within malaria-carrying mosquitoes that could be used to develop pesticides that are toxic to the Anopheles gambiae mosquito and other mosquito species. It would not affect humans and other mammals. If supported by further studies, the findings could offer a safer and more effective control of mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria. Yuan-Ping Pang, Ph.D., a chemist and expert in computer-aided molecular design at Mayo Clinic, identified two unique amino acid residues called cysteine (286) and arginine (339). These exist in three mosquito species and the German cockroach. Dr. Pang's findings are significant because the residues could potentially be used as a target site for a pesticide that would incapacitate only insects that carry these residues, which do not exist in mammals. The findings appear in the current issue of PLoS ONE, a new, peer-reviewed, open-access journal published by the Public Library of Scienc