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What was Dr Allison's first clue that there might be an association between malaria and the sickle cell trait?

In 1954, a South African-born geneticist named Anthony C. Allison observed that people in Uganda who carried a copy of the sickle cell mutation suffered fewer malaria infections than people with normal hemoglobin. Later research confirmed Dr. Allison's finding.

What did Tony Allison hypothesize?

He predicted that the sickle-cell allele and the presence of malaria were somehow related and hypothesized that people with the sickle-cell allele had a selective advantage against malaria. In order to test his hypothesis, Dr. Allison investigated the prevalence of the sickle-cell allele and malaria in East Africa.

How does Dr Allison's work provide an example of natural selection in humans?

Dr. Tony Allison is credited with demonstrating the link between the inherited blood disorder sickle cell disease (also called sickle cell anemia) and malaria. His work showed that an infectious disease could act as a selective force to drive human evolution.

Why did Dr Allison use children in his study?

Students may wonder why Dr. Allison used children and not adults in his study. He did so because adults living in malaria-endemic areas may have some immunity against the parasite, thereby showing lower parasite levels. This effect is independent of genotype and will confound the data.