Mosquito Balls in the News
Glowing Mosquito Gonads May Help Stop Malaria
British scientists have produced male mosquitoes with glowing gonads using a gene-altering technique that may be useful in fighting the spread of malaria, according to a study in Nature Biotechnology.
Researchers at Imperial College in London genetically modified male mosquitoes to produce a green fluorescent protein in their gonads, making it easier to identify males from females, which transmit the malaria parasite. They found that the modified male mosquitoes can be identified accurately and quickly at the larval stage using high-speed sorting machines.
The scientific community is abuzz with the prospect of glowing bug balls.
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Glowing Mosquito Gonads May Help Stop Malaria, Researchers Say
by Carey Sargent
Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) -- British scientists have produced male mosquitoes with glowing gonads using a gene-altering technique that may be useful in fighting the spread of malaria, according to a study in Nature Biotechnology.
Researchers at Imperial College in London genetically modified male mosquitoes to produce a green fluorescent protein in their gonads, making it easier to identify males from females, which transmit the malaria parasite. They found that the modified male mosquitoes can be identified accurately and quickly at the larval stage using high-speed sorting machines.
Once identified among the laboratory-bred mosquitoes, the males can be sterilized and released into the wild. Female mosquitoes mate only once before they die. Releasing sterile males into the wild would have the effect of reducing the population, since females were as likely to mate with sterile males as with those capable of reproducing, Andrea Crisanti, a researcher at Imperial College, London said.
``By forcing females to breed with sterile males, we can stop them creating additional mosquitoes and at the same time, reduce the population,'' Crisanti, a professor of Molecular Parasitology at Imperial College said in a telephone interview. ``In the past, sexing mosquitoes has been one of the major obstacles to using this technique.''
Crisanti said the next step to make the method practical is to do larger experiments and simulations. That process may take about two to three years, he said. The researchers are working with the mosquito anopheles stephensi, which is responsible for most of the malaria in Asia.
Malaria is caused by a parasite spread by the bite of female mosquitoes, which require blood to nurture their eggs. The World Health Organization estimates that malaria will kill about 883,000 people this year.
Yoooo hooo !! Miss Anopheles...here I am ! Can you see me? Over here! That's right...follow the glowing gonads and I'll take you to the prizes.
Oh, Stephensi.... mmmm.. how lovely. Gonad light to dine by and love to follow. I am so glad I found you. Oh, yes, I'd love another sip of hemoglobin.
I am making myself sick. ha ha ha..... sheeesh. Where do you find this stuff, Steel.
Posted by: Stephensi Anopheles | 10/09/2005 at 07:28 PM
That was you, wasn't it, Phoenix? ;o)
Posted by: Obi-Wan | 10/10/2005 at 02:16 AM
Why, Mr. Wan,
Who is this Phoenix you speak of? No doubt a woman of fire, eh?
You'll pardon me, but I have to hook my gonads in parallel to my thalamus and disconnect my cerebrum. A night of Skeeter Luv is ahead of me and the last thing I need is intellectual discourse. Mission Control is calling as I speak.... Gonads lighting up...... parallelism taking place...... cerebrum shutting down..... Ahhhh..
The sweet smell of Miss Anopheles is wending its way into my olfactory senses...
Hump-factor fully engaged........ zzzzzzzzzzzt..
Posted by: Stephensi Anopheles | 10/10/2005 at 09:39 AM