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Created antimalarial mosquitoes

27.09.2022

About half of the world's population lives in areas where malarial mosquitoes are found, and every year millions of people get sick and thousands die from malaria. To create yet another way to fight this devastating disease, an international team of scientists has tampered with the genes of the malaria mosquito so that it becomes the malaria killer itself.

Malaria mosquitoes and the parasites they carry are becoming resistant to insecticides and drugs. The disease is transmitted from person to person through mosquito bites: the causative agent of the disease, the malarial Plasmodium, must develop in the intestines of the mosquito and penetrate into its salivary glands in order for the insect to become dangerous to humans. However, only one in ten mosquitoes will live long enough for Plasmodium to reach its salivary glands - and in their new work, the team of researchers tried to further reduce their number.

By modifying the genome of the malarial mosquito Anopheles gambiae (this species predominantly carries malaria in Africa), the researchers ensured that its intestines began to produce special compounds - antimicrobial peptides. These substances, originally isolated from African bees and smooth clawed frogs, disrupt the development of malarial plasmodium, slowing it down for several days.

In addition to the effect on the parasite, the peptides shortened the life of the mosquito itself, so that in natural conditions, where most animals die before natural death, this should lead to a sharp reduction in insects dangerous to humans. In other words, the modified mosquitoes will somehow die before the malarial plasmodium can reach their salivary glands, and the parasite will die with them.

Since modified mosquitoes are unlikely to be able to naturally spread their genes due to competition from non-modified mosquitoes, the researchers are going to use the gene drive to increase the likelihood of inheriting "antimalarial" genes.

If the technology justifies itself, over the next two to three years, scientists are going to conduct field trials, including jointly with colleagues from African countries, such as Tanzania. The scientists plan to test the new mosquitoes in conditions as close to natural as possible and evaluate their effectiveness against local strains of Plasmodium.

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