Gartner compares it to the sickle cell gene carried by many Africans.
In Britain one in ten black people carry the sickle cell gene.
However, it is also possible that p35 is a transcription factor which may facilitate transcription of some insect cell genes.
He is expected to have been homozygous recessive for the sickle cell gene thus making him not immune to severe malaria, which would have been fatal.
People with the disease are born with two sickle cell genes, one from each parent.
If you only have one sickle cell gene, it's called sickle cell trait.
Then, this month, scientists found a second example of a deleterious gene that, like the sickle cell gene, can protect against disease.
It may play major role(s) in the transcription of certain insect cell genes.
Sickle cell genes of African origin have been detected in Europe, mostly in the Mediterranean region.
Individuals with two copies of the sickle cell gene, homozygotes, will be affected by sickle cell disease and historically have had lower than average fertility.