"In the lab we activated this immune response in advance of infection, giving the mosquito a head start in defeating the invading parasite," he added.
The researchers also found that Rel 2 activation did not affect the survival and egg laying fitness of the modified mosquitoes.
"This came as a pleasant surprise since it essentially means that we one day could spread this trait in natural mosquito populations using genetic modification. Furthermore, by activating Rel 2, the genetically modified mosquitoes will attack the malaria parasite with several independent immune factors, and this will make it very difficult for Plasmodium to develop resistance," said Dimopoulos.
An article on this study has been published in PLoS Pathogens.
Source-ANI
ARU/L