A genetic mosquitoes with toxic semen can be a new weapon against tropical disease, Australian scientists said After testing the novel insect control method.
The purpose of “toxic male technology” aims to breed mosquitoes that express toxic proteins in their semen, killing women after sexual intercourse.
Female mosquitoes are targeted because only they cut and drink only blood, causing diseases to spread Malaria And dengue fever,
Scientist Sam Beach from Australia Macwear university Said that the method “can work quickly as pesticides without harming the beneficial species.”
“This innovative solution can change how we manage pests, provide hope for healthy communities and a more durable future,” said.
The first proof-off-concept trial used fruit flies, a common laboratory species favorite for its small two-week life cycle.
Scientists found that female flies had raised “toxic” with men, which was quite low in lifetime.
Researcher McAcaries Masselco said the team would now test the method in mosquitoes.
“We still need to apply it in mosquitoes and conduct stringent security tests to ensure that there is no risk for humans or other non-speech species,” he said.
Researchers stated that mosquitoes would need to be genetically modified, so they only expressed toxic semen, when they were released in the wild, the researchers said.
Nature communication
This can be done through the so -called “conditional expression” techniques, which use chemicals or other biological triggers, which to turn or close specific genes.
This will allow toxic men to successfully intercourse with women in laboratory conditions, which will produce enough viable offspring to increase the technique.
Genetic engineering has been used over years to control the population of disease spreading mosquitoes.
Typically, these approaches breed at a slow pace by releasing a male insects which are modified to be genetically sterile.
The research team stated that the computer models clearly kill the techniques that kill women who have clearly cut off.
Research was described Published paper On Tuesday evening by Peer-review Journal Nature Communications.
Mosquito has killed 50 billion people During human existence.
Africa is the brunt of malaria95% of 95% are recorded every year with fatal cases, and children under 5 years of age make about 80% of those deaths. Malaria parasitic spreads in those cut by infected mosquitoes, and causes initial symptoms, including high fever, headache and cold.
According to the World Health Organization, mosquitoes are responsible for millions of annual deaths from malaria, dengue fever and other diseases worldwide.
East similar encephalitis An infected mosquito bite also spreads the virus to people. Last year, A New York resident The positive testor for EEE died, and in 2019, the CDC reported that rare disease killed at least 15 people in the US.
