Fighting Malaria Mosquitoes with Mosquitoes
If transgenic mosquitoes immune to malaria could outcompete and replace regular mosquitoes, they could help keep people free of the disease
SUBSCRIBE TO Science Quickly
On supporting science journalism
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
People have been buzzing this week about a study from Johns Hopkins University on mosquitoes, genetically engineered to be resistant to malaria. The idea is to introduce the modified insects into an area affected by the disease and have them completely replace the native population. If the mosquitoes can’t get infected, the logic goes, then the people they bite won’t either.
But to make that scheme work, transgenic mosquitoes need to outcompete the locals. So scientists at Johns Hopkins tested their ability to do this, by allowing equal numbers of resistant and non-resistant mosquitoes to feed on the blood of malaria-infected mice. After nine generations, the transgenic mosquitoes made up 70 percent of the population, meaning they survived better and laid more eggs than the ordinary ones. Winning a head-to-head contest in the lab, though, doesn’t mean the same thing will happen out in the field. There are a lot of mosquitoes out there, and elbowing them out won’t be easy. The researchers say the strategy would have to be combined with insecticides, drugs and perhaps a malaria vaccine to effectively wipe out this deadly disease.
Subscribe to Support Independent Journalism
Great science journalism requires human expertise, time, effort and creativity. And it costs money. That’s why I and the journalists here at Scientific American hope you’ll join our community.
When you subscribe, you are supporting staff and freelance journalists who are passionate about telling science stories that are true, important and compelling. Our editors and reporters are often experts in their fields, which means they understand the nuances of big discoveries and can untangle the breakthroughs from the hype. With a subscription, you are also supporting rigorous fact-checking to ensure the words we publish are precise and accurate. And you’re supporting original illustrations, graphics and photos that bring you closer to an advanced laboratory, an ice sheet in Antarctica or a space mission in orbit. You’re helping us craft other types of high-quality journalism as well: Our newsletters are carefully written, edited and curated by staffers you have or will come to know and love. Our Science Quickly podcast is based on original reporting, collaboration with editors and scientists and exacting production.
Subscriptions keep this engine running so we can continue to deliver thoughtful, rigorous and independent science journalism to you. In an era of viral misinformation, this work is crucial. If you value what we do, I hope you’ll consider joining us as a subscriber
