GM mosquitoes to fight malaria
2005-10-11 12:31
London - Mosquitoes with fluorescent testicles may be the key to fighting malaria, according to new British research released Monday.
Scientists at Imperial College London created the genetically modified male insects, which could be bred, sterilised and released into the wild to mate with females and eradicate natural mosquito populations, carriers of the deadly malaria parasitic disease.
Eliminating mosquito populations could save thousands of lives in Africa, Asia and South America where malaria is most common.
The scientists, led by Professor Andrea Crisanti, created the gene that gives male mosquitoes fluorescent testicles in order to distinguish between the sexes more easily.
Male mosquitoes do not bite, so they can be released to mate with the female population while posing no danger to humans.
If enough sterile males are released into the wild, a mosquito population could be controlled within weeks, according to the study published in the journal Nature Biotechnology.
Only able to breed once
"Female mosquitoes are responsible for spreading malaria, and also for damage to crops, but they are only able to breed once before dying," Crisanti explained.
"By forcing females to breed with sterile males, we can stop them creating additional mosquitoes and at the same time, reduce the population."
The research team used a sorting machine to separate males from females based on lasers picking out a fluorescent green protein in the male gonads.
The machine could sort 180 000 larvae in a 10-hour period, making feasible a large-scale release of the millions of modified mosquitoes needed to control the population.
"This advance could one day make a major impact on the burden of ill health caused by malaria, and is another step towards how genetic modification can be used safely to deal with global problems," Crisanti said.
Mosquitoes cause about 300 to 500 million malaria infections and about one million deaths each year, according to the World Health Organisation.