Engineering Mosquitoes’ Genes to Resist Malaria

Two teams of biologists in Irvine campus of the University of California work in a basement behind five protective doors. They engineered a new breed of mosquitos that is suppose to eliminate malaria. The scientists incorporated two genetic modifications, one to release antibodies to the presence of malaria parasites. The second called a gene drive, should propel the malaria-resistance genes throughout a natural mosquito population. Taking into account Mendel’s law of genetics, the inserted genes should rapidly take over a wild population in as few as ten generations or a single season.

No mosquitos have been let out into the wild mosquito population yet. Biologist are keen to avoid surprises that might arouse public hostility. They believe the public is not ready to such a novel technology. Other concern arises like if the genes will start to develop mutations that might impair their inheritance or natural selection.

In my point of view its fascinating how we have the ability to corrected or edit certain genes. Especially when it comes to malaria, a life threatening illness. From another prospective I totally disagree with engineering mosquitos. I disagree for the only reason that the outcome of releasing the modified mosquitos are not something measurable or controlled. This might have a great impact, perhaps devastating event to happen to our ecosystem.

The Positive Side of Salmon Spawning

There is new research being done that suggests that more salmon escaping from fishing nets to reproduce in streams can improve the natural environment and be beneficial to both the ecosystems and humans.   Salmon are a unique source of food in that they not only help the marine food webs but also terrestrial.  Studies were done that showed with more salmon available in streams, bears would be less likely to eat the entire fish and would instead eat only the parts with the most nutrients (mostly the brain and the eggs).  When this happens, the bear will toss the rest of the fish aside which allows other scavenger animals to benefit and also allows the land to benefit from this salmon fertilizer.

Bears eat salmon at a very high rate, so the more salmon available in their environment is an obvious positive for the bears.  When there are less salmon available for the bears, they still need to eat around the same amount, so there is less salmon available for other animals downstream.  Studies showed that more salmon in the streams would have a direct impact on the growth of salmon in the ocean as well, which leads to larger harvests for the fishermen.

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While I agree that it makes sense that more salmon escaping from fishing nets would help the ecosystems around streams, I am a little doubtful about the increase in harvest for the fishermen.  If the only way to increase their harvest in the end is to allow more salmon to escape their nets and decrease their initial harvest, it just seems as if the final result would be about the same.