It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Super Bug!
July 19th, 2010 | Posted by Kate Preziosi
From a malaria-prevention point of view, the last thing this world needs is more mosquitoes. But that is exactly what researchers from the University of Arizona hope to see, BBC News reported last Friday.
The Arizona research team has genetically engineered the first malaria-resistant mosquito that they hope will compete with its malarial villains in the natural selection process one day soon. The researchers introduced a gene that affected the mosquito’s gut, disrupting the development of the malaria parasite and shortening the insect’s lifespan.
“Before we [release the mosquitoes], we have to somehow give them a competitive advantage over the disease-carrying insects,” said Arizona Professor Michael Riehle, a principle investigator on the project. “This is the first time that we’ve been able to completely block the parasite from developing in the mosquito.”
Could these genetically enhanced super-bugs really be released to combat their arch-nemesis the Anopheles gambiae mosquito one day? Stay tuned!
