Cucumaria echinata

Cucumaria echinata
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Echinodermata
Class:	Holothuroidea
Order:	Dendrochirotida
Family:	Cucumariidae
Genus:	Cucumaria
Species:	C. echinata
Binomial name
Cucumaria echinata Von Marenzeller

Cucumaria echinata is a sea cucumber species in the genus Cucumaria.

Cucumaria echinata is found in the Bay of Bengal. It is known to produce a lectin that has the ability to block the development of Plasmodium, the causal agent of malaria, when it is expressed in genetically modified Anopheles mosquitoes.^[1]

References

1. ^ Yoshida S, Shimada Y, Kondoh D, et al. (2007). "Hemolytic C-type lectin CEL-III from sea cucumber expressed in transgenic mosquitoes impairs malaria parasite development". PLoS Pathog. 3 (12): e192. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.0030192. PMC 2151087. PMID 18159942. http://www.plospathogens.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.ppat.0030192.