University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center researchers said their finding might point to a possible malaria vaccine, thwarting the disease that kills about 1 million people each year, primarily children in sub-Saharan Africa.

The researchers found sexual reproduction begins with two genetically different steps: First, two reproductive cells must latch onto each other with one protein, and secondly they must fuse their membranes to form a single cell using a different protein.

The scientists collaborated with malaria experts at Imperial College London and found the parasite causing malaria also uses that two-step process. When they blocked "male" and "female" malarial cells from fusing, spread of the mosquito-borne disease was stopped.

The research is to appear in the April 14 issue of the journal Genes and Development and is now available at the journal's Web site.