Scientists genetically engineer a lethal mosquito STD to combat malaria

https://newatlas.com/biology/genetically-engineered-lethal-mosquito-std-combat-malaria/

by burnt-resistor • 1 year ago

48 46 1 year ago

newatlas.com

User23• 1 year ago

Next do ticks.

rickydroll• 1 year ago

Yes, do ticks like the Asian Longhorn tick. Nasty little fuckers.

chasil2• 1 year ago

"Recently, mosquitoes and mosquito-borne parasites have developed resistance to chemical treatments and antimalarial drugs."

This seems similar to phage therapy, in that the treatment continues to evolve along with the target.

The treatment in the above article is a fungus. "Despite being lethal to mosquitoes, the transgenic Metarhizium fungus is harmless in humans."

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2104592118

littlestymaar2• 1 year ago

Funny that you mention phage therapy as the first person to implement desease-based pest control for bugs was Félix d'Hérelle, better known for having invented phage therapy a few years later.

His biography is definitely worth reading as his life was entertaining to say the least.

chasil2• 1 year ago

I upvoted you, and I think that was quite interesting.

rcpt• 1 year ago

We were going to release something like this in California but environmental groups killed it.

I've been having some success with "mosquito dunks" in buckets here in Los Angeles but unless the neighbors do it to we still get bit

frollogaston• 1 year ago

Maybe if they do it in neighboring states, some of the mosquitos will fly over the border.

tonyedgecombe• 1 year ago

Not if we build a wall, how high can mosquitoes fly?

notfed• 1 year ago

Why did they kill it? Were risks identified independent of eliminating mosquitoes, or was it killed due to perceived causal effects of eliminating mosquitoes?

ItCouldBeWorse• 1 year ago

Because diseases have a tendency to recombine and jump hosts - it could become a human plague- similar to malaria..

mullingitover2• 1 year ago

LA has a project where sterile male mosquitos are released[1]. Females only mate once, so this absolutely wrecks mosquito populations. It's the same strategy that keep screwworms contained at the Darrien Gap.

[1] https://www.glamosquito.org/2024-04-12-innovative-pilot-prog...

trod1234• 1 year ago

This is by far the safer way to do these things. You never know what's going to happen when you Geneer a completely new organism and then release it into the wild.

svpk• 1 year ago

Screwworms have actually broken through the Darrien Gap and hopes of recontaining them are slim.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2025/05/screwwor...

burnt-resistor• 1 year ago

In this cade, I disagree with environmentalists. Mosquitoes have killed more humans than all the wars, possibly half whoever lived or 50 billion. They aren't essential.

Incipient• 1 year ago

Interesting thought - ARE mosquitoes essential? What actually do they do in the food chain? Simply provide food/biomass for frogs/fish/etc?

JumpCrisscross5• 1 year ago

I've been having some success with "mosquito dunks" in buckets

Huh, TIL [1].

[1] https://www.countryliving.com/gardening/a65047508/mosquito-b...

flowerthoughts• 1 year ago

You can use them just about anywhere that collects water—bird baths, fish ponds, etc.–because BTi is totally non-toxic to other wildlife. The only caveat here is that you don't want to use mosquito dunks in water that'll be ingested or touched by humans, so avoid using it in pools.

It's totally safe! Except for two species: mosquitos and humans. Right. At least the label [1] doesn't make any claims about it being safe for wildlife. It just says it's not safe for humans (and mosquitos.)

[1] https://www.domyown.com/images/323-2.jpg

recursivedoubts• 1 year ago

"when wintertime rolls around, the gorillas simply freeze to death"

ChrisMarshallNY• 1 year ago

“It’s essentially an arms race between the mosquitoes and us," says St. Leger. "Just as they keep adapting to what we create, we have to continuously develop new and creative ways to fight them,”

I just had a vision of Jeff Goldblum muttering something...

pazimzadeh• 1 year ago

I worked in Raymond St. Leger’s lab for a short time in college. I can pass along any questions you have, and will send him the link to this discussion.

moffkalast2• 1 year ago

Tell them to keep up the good work. The only good mosquito is a dead mosquito! I'm doing my part!

KennyBlanken• 1 year ago

Except for all the living things that eat mosquitos, and which in turn get eaten by other things, or eat other pests besides mosquitos

davidhyde• 1 year ago

“ Unlike pesticides or other chemical control methods that mosquitoes can develop resistance to, this method uses the mosquitoes’ own biology to deliver the control agent.”

I don’t understand why mosquitos can develop resistance to chemicals but not a fungal infection, regardless of the delivery method. Can Raymond shed some light on this?

hyencomper• 1 year ago

Great work! Does this method have any distinct advantages over infecting mosquitos with Wolbachia? Thank you.

mont_tag• 1 year ago

Scientists genetically engineer a lethal mosquito STD to combat malaria

Nothing could possibly go wrong.

DrNosferatu2• 1 year ago

What could possibly go wrong?

thesnide• 1 year ago

Nature always finds a way.

peterlada• 1 year ago

Why don't we kill off a species at the bottom of a food pyramid. What can go wrong?

Who needs frogs and swallows anyway?!?

JumpCrisscross5• 1 year ago

What can go wrong?

Not that much [1].

Who needs frogs and swallows anyway?!?

They were fine before we introduced Aedes aegypti to North America in the 17th century [2].

[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/466432a

[2] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5938790/

rendaw• 1 year ago

I'm sure it's controversial, but I think general concern for the environment would increase if we killed off human-biting mosquitos. I and lots of other people avoid going outside for large parts of the year due to mosquitos. Walks, if at all, are brisk. No eating outside, no hanging out in parks, exercise at a gym, run to your car, etc. It's hard to care about the environment when you're never in it.

I guess my stance is (maybe) the benefits of getting rid of human-biting mosquitos could outweigh the negatives of the effect it'd have on ecology.

Voultapher3• 1 year ago

Not that much [1].

Uhh, I read the paper and it's like here is evidence it would be a problem, anyway since there isn't any convincing evidence that it would be a problem let's just go ahead.

“Mosquitoes are delectable things to eat and they’re easy to catch,” says aquatic entomologist Richard Merritt, at Michigan State University in East Lansing. In the absence of their larvae, hundreds of species of fish would have to change their diet to survive. “This may sound simple, but traits such as feeding behaviour are deeply imprinted, genetically, in those fish,” says Harrison. The mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis), for example, is a specialized predator — so effective at killing mosquitoes that it is stocked in rice fields and swimming pools as pest control — that could go extinct. And the loss of these or other fish could have major effects up and down the food chain. Many species of insect, spider, salamander, lizard and frog would also lose a primary food source. In one study published last month, researchers tracked insect-eating house martins at a park in Camargue, France, after the area was sprayed with a microbial mosquito-control agent1 . They found that the birds produced on average two chicks per nest after spraying, compared with three for birds at control sites. Most mosquito-eating birds would probably switch to other insects that, post-mosquitoes, might emerge in large numbers to take their place. Other insectivores might not miss them at all: bats feed mostly on moths, and less than 2% of their gut content is mosquitoes. “If you’re expending energy,” says medical entomologist Janet McAllister of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Fort Collins, Colorado, “are you going to eat the 22-ounce filet-mignon moth or the 6-ounce hamburger mosquito?” With many options on the menu, it seems that most insecteaters would not go hungry in a mosquito-free world. There is not enough evidence of ecosystem disruption here to give the eradicators pause for thought.

stubish• 1 year ago

This particular form of mosquito control seems to be untargeted and will affect all species. Which also makes it that much more likely that it will be evolved around (but that could still be a win, if Aedes Aegypti got replaced with a fungus resistant species).

DrNosferatu2• 1 year ago

Easy guess:

Nature will find a way around this - and - a "rabbits in Australia" outcome is quite possible.

Much better to use AI to design a multi-enzyme/protein pill / vaccine to get humans & pets & livestock out of the mosquito food chain.

Scientists genetically engineer a lethal mosquito STD to combat malaria

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