Genetically Modified Fungus Kills Parasites

Metarhizium phinghaense is a green fungus that has the ability to kill insects when they come in contact with it.  This fungus is now undergoing studies to see if it can be used to kill insecticide-resistant mosquitoes that carry the Malaria pathogen and prevent the spread of disease.
Researchers have genetically modified the Metarhizium phinghaense fungus to carry a toxin responsible for killing off the mosquitoes, including those carrying Malaria pathogen, called the spider bite toxin.  It is a hybrid toxin that enters the blood of mosquitoes, called hemolymph.  This toxin not only kills the mosquito and stops the transfer of Malaria, but it kills the pathogen themselves so it can't be picked up within the environment.

Brkina Faso, West Africa

In Burkina Faso, a country in West Africa, a study was done to assay the effectiveness of the Metarhizium phinghaense hybrid fungus.  I was performed here because in 2017, 219 million cases of malaria were reported and 92% of those cases originated in Africa, and 93% of the deaths originated in Africa as well.  To perform the study they secured the area with mosquito nets preventing new mosquitos to enter or case study mosquitos to exit.  In their findings that introduced the hybrid fungus to the mosquitos, the fungus killed off 2 generations of mosquitos.
This genetic modification could be the start of bringing down Malaria cases more than 50% percent if everyone would plant them outside of there homes, villages, etc.  The mortality rate would significantly decrease as well.  Although this discovery has great benefits, what would be the consequence to genetically modifying the Metarhizium phinghaense fungus?

Original Article: Science News

Malaria Breakthrough

Article: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/11/191114115920.htm
Related Article: https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/malaria/index.html

Malaria is a disease that despite the many people working on it, still affects more than 400,000 people. It is transmitted through mosquitoes who are infected with a parasite, and can be found in a variety of areas.

Researchers have carried out a study where they took the genome of the malaria parasite Plasmodium, and deleted parts of it to see what it would do to the parasite's life cycle. They used this on 1300 different genes. The results of this was analyzed to find metabolic pathways for the parasite, allowing them to make predictions on which genes are important for malaria control.

I think this is impressive, they put in a lot of work to target 1300 genes, I would be very interested in hearing about what they do with the information they received from this experiment. Likely, they will be able to find use for this information within the next few years.

The Future Wipe Out Of Mosquitoes with Diseases

https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/gene-driveequipped-mosquitoes-released-into-lab-environment-65493

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/02/20/693735499/scientists-release-controversial-genetically-modified-mosquitoes-in-high-securit

A laboratory that mimics real life outdoors in Terni, Italy released hundreds of genetically modified mosquitoes that are known to be carrying a sequence of DNA that can rapidly reproduce with a cure for malaria and other diseases.  This would be a life changing break through to save many lives in Africa and other poverty stricken places. This sequence of DNA introduces female mosquitoes with the inability to bit, as well as lay eggs that can spread diseases more rapidly. If you did not know, females are the mosquito's in which spread the different diseases. This mutation is called the "doublesex" mutation. Within the lab, they see this successfully working, and realize this will help knock out many diseases within the insect populations. Within a year the scientists should be able to understand these concepts fully, and within five years releases these new breed mosquito's into the wild.

This is ground breaking research. This will ultimately help the poverty stricken country's that cannot fight off these diseases, and reduce the total number of deaths. It is shocking that within science you can come up with anything, and work out its flaws. This project will take awhile to complete but patience is key to controlling the diseases spread by mosquito's.