An article from eLife talks about altering a mosquito's genes so they spread antimalarial genes to the next generation, in the hopes of stopping mosquitoes, altogether, from spreading malaria. This study is using CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology to make changes in mosquito genes. This will greatly reduce illnesses and deaths caused by malaria. Researchers are using genetically modified mosquitoes, which will be released into the environment and, eventually, will spread genes that will decrease mosquito populations or make them less likely to spread the malaria parasite. This article discusses, more in depth, about how genetically modified mosquitoes work. Testing is still being conducted, as of now, to make sure this is safe to release into the wild.
If this works to help stop the spread of malaria for good imagine using this technique to help stop other diseases in the world. Instead of using normal ways of vaccines we can use mosquitos to help.
ReplyDeleteIf the technique mentioned in the article becomes possible, this would be a huge advancement to preventing the infection and spread of illnesses in the world. This also makes me wonder how much effort and studied would have to be performed to ensure this would work well.
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