Manipulating mosquitoes and malaria

Malaria kills up to 2.7 million people a year and the death toll is predicted to double in the next two decades. In the 23 May Nature, Junitsu Ito and colleagues describe a transgenic strategy to halt malaria by regulating transmission by mosquitoes of the Plasmodium parasites that cause the disease(Nature 2002, 417:452-455).Ito et al. used the carboxypeptidase (CP) promoter that is activated by a blood meal, and CP signal sequences that direct protein secretion into the midgut lumen, to drive e

| 1 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
1:00
Share

Malaria kills up to 2.7 million people a year and the death toll is predicted to double in the next two decades. In the 23 May Nature, Junitsu Ito and colleagues describe a transgenic strategy to halt malaria by regulating transmission by mosquitoes of the Plasmodium parasites that cause the disease(Nature 2002, 417:452-455).

Ito et al. used the carboxypeptidase (CP) promoter that is activated by a blood meal, and CP signal sequences that direct protein secretion into the midgut lumen, to drive expression of an SMI (salivary gland- and midgut-binding peptide 1) motif. They transformed this transgene into the germline of the mosquito Anopheles stephensi. When expression of the SMI peptide was induced, it inhibited parasite development, ookinete invasion and transmission.

This is the first report of transgenic regulation of Plasmodium transmission and offers a novel strategy for combating malaria.

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here

Meet the Author

  • Jonathan Weitzman

    This person does not yet have a bio.
Share
Image of small blue creatures called Nergals. Some have hearts above their heads, which signify friendship. There is one Nergal who is sneezing and losing health, which is denoted by minus one signs floating around it.
June 2025, Issue 1

Nergal Networks: Where Friendship Meets Infection

A citizen science game explores how social choices and networks can influence how an illness moves through a population.

View this Issue
Unraveling Complex Biology with Advanced Multiomics Technology

Unraveling Complex Biology with Five-Dimensional Multiomics

Element Bioscience Logo
Resurrecting Plant Defense Mechanisms to Avoid Crop Pathogens

Resurrecting Plant Defense Mechanisms to Avoid Crop Pathogens

Twist Bio 
The Scientist Placeholder Image

Seeing and Sorting with Confidence

BD
The Scientist Placeholder Image

Streamlining Microbial Quality Control Testing

MicroQuant™ by ATCC logo

Products

The Scientist Placeholder Image

Agilent Unveils the Next Generation in LC-Mass Detection: The InfinityLab Pro iQ Series

parse-biosciences-logo

Pioneering Cancer Plasticity Atlas will help Predict Response to Cancer Therapies

waters-logo

How Alderley Analytical are Delivering eXtreme Robustness in Bioanalysis