GMO mosquitoes to stop mosquitoes (and all the diseases they carry)

[SidDithers]

http://scienceblogs.com/erv/2014/06/11/gmo-mosquitoes-to-stop-mosquitoes/

Holy crap! This is so clever!!

A synthetic sex ratio distortion system for the control of the human malaria mosquito

Component #1– Anopheles gambiae, the kind of mosquito that is notorious for spreading malaria.

Component #2– I-PpoI, a protein that ‘sees’ a specific DNA sequence, and cuts it. aka, a homing endonuclease. It was originally found in slime mold. :-D

It might seem as if there is no way these two components could come together in any meaningful way.

But when you are an evil scientist, anything is possible!!

More detail at link.

Sid

[femmocrat]

1. Can they get rid of stinkbugs next?

[mike_c]

2. other than the genetic engineering...

...this is essentially identical to the screwworm eradication program's sterile male release program back in the 1950s. Actually, now that I think about it that was just somewhat cruder genetic engineering, of the smash and crash variety. But if I recall they used gamma radiation to create sterile males that caused populations to crash quickly. The slime mold endonuclease is a really nice touch, though.

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. Lot of chimney swifts and swallows eat mosquitotes.

Wonder how this will affect them.

[Lochloosa]

4. Badly

[jwirr]

5. I was thinking about that also. Dragon flies, frogs, etc.

[mathematic]

6. Probably better than the DDT currently used to kill mosquitoes

"Let the mosquitoes live" isn't an option until we have a cure for malaria.

[X_Digger]

7. They'll get by (unlike the people who die from mosquito borne diseases.)

As far as I know, there are no obligate feeders of mosquitoes.