Mosquito recruited to fight malaria Modified insect would be released into wild

URL: http://www.globeandmail.com/gam/Health/20000622/UVIVAN3.html 

Date accessed: 15 July 2000

                     Agence France-Presse

                     Thursday, June 22, 2000

                     Paris -- European scientists have created the world's first genetically

                     modified mosquito, in what they believe may be a step toward eliminating

                     malaria by introducing harmless versions of the insect into the wild.

                     The team introduced a piece of foreign DNA into mosquito eggs, which

                     then "jumped" into the chromosomes of the larva, according to their

                     research, published in today's issue of the British weekly Nature.

                     The DNA comprises small circular molecules called plasmids that include

                     mobile sequences of genetic material.

                     In this case, the plasmids controlled a fluorescent protein, which makes

                     the mosquito glow an eerie green when it is exposed to ultraviolet light.

                     The glow has a laboratory use -- to show researchers at a glance

                     whether the modified gene has been conferred to subsequent generations

                     of the insect.

                     But, the scientists write, other genes could also be inserted, with a

                     potential boon for humanity.

                     A strain of mosquitoes could be bred that no longer harbours or

                     transmits the malaria parasite, which is passed on to humans when the

                     insect drinks their blood.

                     Work could draw on a wealth of experience in figuring out the genetic

                     makeup of a cousin species, the fruit fly drosophila.

                     "The successful transformation of a mosquito vector of human malaria is

                     a notable advance in our ability to combat this devastating disease," adds

                     Craig Coates, of Texas A and M University, in an adjoining commentary

                     in Nature.

                     He cautions, however, that the environmental impact of releasing the

                     modified flies would have to be carefully assessed.

                     The research was conducted by scientists from London's Imperial

                     College, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg,

                     Germany, and the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology in

                     Crete, Greece.

                     Hundreds of millions of people living in tropical and subtropical climates

                     are affected by malaria-carrying mosquitoes.

                     Ninety per cent of cases, accounting for an estimated one million deaths

                     a year, are in sub-Saharan Africa, where the main culprit is a strain of

                     mosquito called anopheles gambiae.

                     There is no viable vaccine against the malaria parasite, which is also

                     becoming resistant to the most commonly used drugs.

                     In addition, control of mosquito populations is being hampered by

                     resistance to insecticides and environmental worries about the long-term

                     impact from the most effective chemicals, such as DDT.

Category: 29. GMOs