Mosquito with glowing gonads to help battle malaria

[emad]

Mosquito with glowing gonads to help battle malaria
14:06 10 October 2005

A genetically engineered mosquito with glowing gonads could become a new weapon in the battle against malaria.

Researchers at Imperial College London created the mosquito by attaching a gene for fluorescence found in jellyfish to a gene expressed only in a male mosquito’s sexual organs. The technique makes it relatively simple to distinguish males from females, something that has previously hindered malaria-eradication strategies.

One way to control disease-carrying mosquitoes is to flood an area with millions of sterile males. They mate with the females but produce no offspring, so the insect population drops. The technique has helped control the Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata), for instance.


But the strategy relies on being able to separate males from females, as sterile females can still transmit malaria. The problem is that, unlike some insects, the larvae are very difficult to sex.

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8120


NOW they'll ALL want one....

[MuseRider]

1. Interesting.

Commenting slightly off the topic, I guess piercing and tats will be out of fashion soon?

[orion9941]

2. Huh...

Glowing testies?? My...hmmm...one has a hard time wrapping one's head around that one. Somehow I have a feeling that someone some where is saying "I gotta get me a pair of those!"

[bemildred]

3. Gives new meaning to the term "Hot Nuts". nt

[greyl]

5. I searched for the term "Hot Nuts" and

was asked, "Did you mean Goat-nuts?

[bemildred]

9. Is that some kind of cereal? nt

[greyl]

10. Haha. :) see "jojoba"

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=Hot+Nuts

[zbdent]

4. Awright, who peeked ?

perverts . . .

[greyl]

6. This is pretty incredible.

And by "incredible" I mean amazing.

[missingpeace]

7. Great Balls O' Fire!

[Spinzonner]

8. Wasn't John Ritter (RIP) in a movie about this ?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098343/