US EditionCRISPR Allelic-Drive Switch Renders Mosquitoes Unable to Transmit Malaria
ASIA, AUG 1 – Researchers engineered a gene drive to spread a malaria-blocking FREP1 gene variant in Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes, reducing parasite infection prevalence from 80% to 30%, study shows.
- A team of scientists from UC San Diego and Johns Hopkins University developed a CRISPR-based method to prevent malaria transmission in mosquitoes, announced on Wednesday.
- The method alters a single amino acid in mosquitoes, stopping the malaria parasite from reaching their salivary glands, according to researchers Zhiqian Li and Ethan Bier.
- Genetically modified mosquitoes can still acquire parasites but do not transmit them, preserving their health and reproduction, according to the study in Nature.
- Researchers warn that gene drive technology may have unpredictable ecological consequences, as noted by Dana Perls from Friends of the Earth.
25 Articles
25 Articles
New method genetically blocks mosquitoes from transmitting malaria
Mosquitoes kill more people each year than any other animal. In 2023, the blood-sucking insects infected a reported 263 million people with malaria, leading to nearly 600,000 deaths, 80% of which were children.
Did researchers, including UC San Diego scientists, just solve global malaria problem?
A team of scientists, including researchers at UC San Diego, have developed a gene-editing method to block mosquitoes from spreading malaria, it was announced Wednesday. Biologists Zhiqian Li and Ethan Bier from UCSD, and Yuemei Dong and George Dimopoulos from Johns Hopkins University, created a CRISPR-based gene-editing system that “changes a single molecule within mosquitoes, a minuscule but effective change...
Genetic tweak in mosquitoes blocks malaria transmission without affecting insect health
Mosquitoes kill more people each year than any other animal. In 2023, the blood-sucking insects infected a reported 263 million people with malaria, leading to nearly 600,000 deaths, 80% of which were children.
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