MALARIA could be wiped out by giving female mosquitoes testicles and breeding themselves into extinction, researchers claim.
British scientists are working on a genetically-engineered tool known as a “gene drive” which spreads catastrophic mutations whenever the insect tries to reproduce.
Researchers at Imperial College London identified a part of the genome which controls sex differences and is unable to change.
They found that when natural mutation happens here, the mosquito dies as it cannot evolve defences and would eradicate malaria.
The experts say that by genetically-modifying a number of insects to have one copy of the gene then it could start to spread through the population unnoticed.
Eventually enough of the population will be carrying the gene so that once female offspring gain both copies they’ll die because regular sex development fails.
Professor Andrea Crisanti, whose team was behind the gene drive, told the Times: “This is a kind of mindstorm. We are able to selectively pinpoint a species and suppress it. There is no comparison, no precedent.”
He added: “The females have male external genitalia, male mouth parts and rudimentary testes.
“They are sterile. At that point, the population just collapses.”
For a paper in Nature Biotechnology, the researchers said that this method allows them to target entire strains of mosquito without affecting any other part of the ecosystem.
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It’s the first time the tool has proven to beat the mosquitoes’ natural evolutionary defences in laboratory experiments.
But other researchers say it won’t be a simple process to apply in the wild and therefore it’s too soon to say whether it could wipe out malaria.
David Conway, Professor of Biology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: “A caged population all meet each other and bump into each other and mate randomly. In natural populations it’s very much different.”
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News Pictures Malaria could be wiped out by giving female mosquitoes testicles and breeding themselves into extinction
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