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Scientists breed a wingless mosquito
Source: Agencies |
February 24, 2010, Wednesday
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Print Edition
FIRST it was just swatting. Then poison. Then sterilizing males. Now it is grounding females. Is there anything people won't try in the war against mosquitoes?
The latest idea ? genetic engineering that results in wingless female mosquitoes.
The females do the biting, but if they cannot fly they can't zoom in on their victims. They would be expected to die quickly on the ground, researchers suggest in yesterday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The real goal is to prevent mosquitoes from spreading disease, and the researchers led by Luke Alphey of the University of Oxford in England are studying ways to reduce dengue fever, which mosquitoes carry.
The researchers, several of whom have commercial interests in the work through Oxitec Ltd, developed a method to genetically alter male mosquitoes, which then could mate with females. Their offspring would have wing changes that prevent the females from flying.
Males could still fly, but they don't bite.
"The technology is completely species specific, as the released males will mate only with females of the same species," Alphey said. "It's far more targeted and environmentally friendly than the use of chemical spray insecticides, which leave toxic residue."
Other efforts to block diseases such as malaria have involved releasing sterile male mosquitoes, which can mate but produce no offspring.
The latest idea ? genetic engineering that results in wingless female mosquitoes.
The females do the biting, but if they cannot fly they can't zoom in on their victims. They would be expected to die quickly on the ground, researchers suggest in yesterday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The real goal is to prevent mosquitoes from spreading disease, and the researchers led by Luke Alphey of the University of Oxford in England are studying ways to reduce dengue fever, which mosquitoes carry.
The researchers, several of whom have commercial interests in the work through Oxitec Ltd, developed a method to genetically alter male mosquitoes, which then could mate with females. Their offspring would have wing changes that prevent the females from flying.
Males could still fly, but they don't bite.
"The technology is completely species specific, as the released males will mate only with females of the same species," Alphey said. "It's far more targeted and environmentally friendly than the use of chemical spray insecticides, which leave toxic residue."
Other efforts to block diseases such as malaria have involved releasing sterile male mosquitoes, which can mate but produce no offspring.
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