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"Friendly" Mosquitoes to fight Malaria |
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Technophobe
Assistant Admin Joined: January 16 2014 Location: Scotland Status: Offline Points: 88450 |
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Posted: June 12 2014 at 4:34am |
Genetically modified mosquitoes to wipe-out malaria by population annihilationPosted by: hunzanews The sex selection technique produces a generation of mosquitoes which is 95-per cent male, as opposed to 50 per cent in normal populations, they reported in the journal Nature Communications. So few females are left that the mosquito population eventually collapses, curbing the risk to humans from the malaria parasite that the blood-feeding females transmit. “Malaria is debilitating and often fatal and we need to find new ways of tackling it,” said study leader Andrea Crisanti, a professor at Imperial College London. “We think our innovative approach is a huge step forward. For the very first time, we have been able to inhibit the production of female offspring in the laboratory, and this provides a new means to eliminate the disease.” Malaria kills more than 600,000 people each year, with young children in sub-Saharan Africa on the frontline, according to the UN’s World Health Organisation (WHO). The result of six years’ work, the method focuses on Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes, the most dangerous transmitters of the malaria parasite. Super cool work The scientists injected a stretch of enzyme DNA into the genetic code of male mosquito embryos. The modification essentially shreds the X chromosome during sperm production in adulthood. As a result, almost no functioning sperm carried the X chromosome, which determines female offspring. Instead, most sperm carried the Y chromosome, which produces males. The modified mosquitoes were put to the test in five cages, each containing 50 genetically modified males and 50 normal, wild females. In four of the five cages, the entire population was wiped out within six generations because of the progressively greater shortage of females. Modified male mosquitoes produced only modified male heirs, which did the same until there were no females left. “The research is still in its early days, but I am really hopeful that this new approach could ultimately lead to a cheap and effective way to eliminate malaria from entire regions,” said Crisanti’s colleague, Roberto Galizi. In an independent comment, University of Oxford specialist Michael Bonsall said the research was “super cool work.” “This has important implications for limiting the spread of malaria,” he told Britain’s Science Media Centre. “It will be very exciting to see how this specific technology is now taken forward.” Scientists are already experimenting in the wild with Aedes aegypti mosquitoes — which carry dengue fever — that have been modified to create offspring that do not reach adulthood. They survive for just a week, compared to a month for normal mosquitoes. Brazil and Malaysia have already released batches of these insects, and Panama in January said it would follow suit. The programmes have run into concerns from environmentalists, who point to unknown impacts of GM releases on biodiversity balance. If one mosquito species is eliminated in a neighbourhood, this opens up opportunities for a rival, and potentially dangerous, species to move in, they say. Source: express tribune http://hunzanews.com/genetically-modified-mosquitoes-to-wipe-out-malaria-by-population-annihilation/ |
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Homeomum
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While I love the thought of wiping out malaria and never having to hear that awful whine in my ears in the middle of the night ever again, has anyone thought that if we start wiping out whole species like this, what it may do to destroy other species that feed on the mosquito? That's basically getting rid of a whole layer of the food chain. I don't know about you guys but the thought of that freaks the crap out of me!!
For those interested you may want to check out what the good old homeopaths are doing in Africa to actually rid people of malaria and in a way that is cheap, effective and won't unbalance the food chain |
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Homeomum
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This is only one of many trials being undertaken in the homeopathic community against Malaria
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0007078596801785
Homoeopathic treatment of malaria in Ghana: Open study and clinical trial
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Johnray1
Valued Member Joined: April 23 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 8159 |
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Homeomum, you are exactly right about wiping out part of the basic food chain.I use to fish in Canada a lot and the Black flies,the mosquitoes, and the no-see- um would make many trips a near night mayor and I asked why the Canadians did not spray and destroy these bugs. They had already studied doing that and they had the technology and the chemicals to destroy the very aggravating bugs. But they also said that if they did destroy this level of the food chain,basically, all of the fresh water fish in Canada would die out,so they could not kill the base of the food chain for the fish. Johnray1
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