Genetically Modified Mosquito’s Fly in US

Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, a small percentage of all the mosquitoes species in the Florida Keys causes diseases including dengue and Zika. Science News reports that the British biotech firm Oxitec decided to curb the local population of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes by designing an experiment to produce genetically engineered the mosquitoes.

these genetically modified male mosquitoes carry a gene that makes their female progeny dependent on the antibiotic tetracycline so that disease causing female die early to stop their population growth. The modified insects eventually die off, making this approach self-limiting.

‘It’s one of the top three mosquitoes in the world in the number of diseases it can spread’, says Don Yee, an aquatic ecologist at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, who studies mosquitoes.

The results of the experiment give an insight into well-targeted pest control strategy that eliminates disease-spreading bugs without spraying any chemicals.

This experiment will directly translate into an epidemiological impact effectively reducing disease transmission. But there is no scientific proof that it will not cause undue harm to the fragile ecosystem. .



Source-Medindia