ABOVE: © NELSON ALMEIDA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
In recent years, researchers have sequenced the genomes of several Anopheles mosquito species, including those responsible for nearly all of the malaria transmission in Africa. With this information, they have begun to identify the genes underlying the insects’ ability to colonize human habitats, their reproductive biology, and their susceptibility to infection by the malaria parasite (Plasmodium spp.). If we know the genes, or variants of genes, that are responsible for key mosquito traits, such as parasite clearance or egg laying, we can theoretically introduce a genetic modification into the insects that reduces malaria transmission.
The idea has been percolating in the minds of scientists for nearly 20 years, ever since researchers developed a way to introduce genes into mosquitoes. But one challenge has hindered all such efforts to date: how to encourage the spread of a gene modification from a few lab-reared mosquitoes to an ...
