Mutant Mosquitoes Resist Malaria

Genetically Modified - Resist Malaria Infection

US Scientist have informed that they have bred a genetically modified – GM mosquito which can resist malaria infection. It could provide a new way of stopping the biting insects from spreading malaria to humans if the lab technique tends to work in the field.

The scientists have put a new resistance gene in the DNA of the mosquito utilising a gene editing method known as Crispr. According to the PNAS journal it was reported that when the GM mosquitoes reproduces, their offspring inherit the same resistance. In theory, when these mosquitoes tend to bite people, they should not be capable of passing on the parasite which causes malaria.


Almost half of the world’s population is at risk of being affected by malaria. Precautions like bed nets, insecticides as well as repellents could help in stopping the insect bites and drugs could be given to those affected by the infection.

 The disease still tends to kill around 580,000 people a year. Scientist has been probing for new means of fighting malaria. The team at the University of California are of the belief that their GM mosquito could play an essential role, breeding resistant offspring to substitute the endemic, malaria carrying parasites.

Anopheles Stephensi

For the experiment, they took a kind of mosquito that is found in India, an Anopheles stephensi. Dr Anthony James together with his team showed that they could give a new DNA code to the insect, in order to make it a poor host for the malaria parasite.

The DNA that codes for antibodies which fight the parasite had been inherited by around 100% of the mosquito offspring and through three generations. According to the researchers, the findings provide hope that the same system could work also in the other mosquito species. They state that though it would not be the only solution to this malaria issue, it would be a useful additional weapon.

UK expert from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Prof David Conway, said that it was not the finished product yet though it certainly looks promising and it does look like the genetic editing, works. At the University of California-Irvine, molecular biologist Anthony James is developing what he calls "sustainable technologies" -rather than killing mosquitoes, rendering them unable to infect people.

Sustainable Technologies

However some other experts have the apprehension that eliminating them entirely could have unexpected as well as unsolicited significances. Substituting disease carrying mosquitoes with inoffensive breeds could be a possible alternative.

At the University of California-Irvine, Anthony James, molecular biologist is working on what he calls `sustainable technologies’ instead of killing mosquitoes rather than making them unable to infect people. He engineered immune system genes which could spur a mosquito’s body to cultivate antibiotics to attack parasite so that it would be unable to transmit the infection.

This new genes tends to work as intended when it is injected into the eggs of a certain malaria spreading mosquito species. Gene driven experiments could be controversial and one concern could be the possibility of altered organisms escaping the laboratory prior to the scientist knowing how to utilise them.

The California team took precautions in special lab security and used mosquito species which could not survive in the climate of California.