Andrea Crisanti of Imperial College London says that he made the breakthrough by combining two leading edge molecular technologies, the so-called genome editing tool Crispr, which can be applied to introduce the sterility gene, and the molecular turbo 'gene drive', employed to spread the gene among large numbers of the insect, reported the Italian news agency Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata (ANSA) on Monday.
'By combining these technologies for the first time we are able to modify a species by intervening in the processes that regulate its evolution,' Crisanti said.
By attacking the reproductive genes we can induce a drastic reduction in population, leading almost to extinction of the unwanted mosquitoes, he added.
'This is useful for malaria-carrying mosquitoes, but in future it could also be applied to other harmful and infesting plant and animal species to restore the balance of an ecosystem,' he said.
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that kills over one million people annually.
Ninety percent of malaria cases occur in Sub-Saharan Africa.
2044/1312
Italian scientist's mosquito sterilization may help eradicate malaria
Dec 8, 2015, 3:28 PM
News ID:
81870948
Tehran, Dec 8, IRNA – An Italian researcher has managed to generate sterile mosquitoes, a breakthrough that may well promise the eradication of mosquito-borne diseases like malaria.
