Scientists are now testing genetically modified mosquitoes, which is as scary as it may seem – BGR

In many developed countries, mosquitoes are a nuisance that can also be a vector of disease. In areas where malaria is prevalent, however, they pose a deadly threat to victims. Many parts of Africa have been dealing with a malaria epidemic for decades and mosquitoes are the main vector.

Today, the controversial genetic modification of mosquitoes opens new perspectives in the fight against the disease and its army of air carriers. As NPR According to reports, Italian-based scientists have for the first time begun testing GM mosquitoes for the first time in a controlled laboratory environment.

Mosquitoes have a short life, but their ability to multiply quickly makes them incredibly difficult to fight in developing areas. Stopping the breeding of insects would be a formidable weapon against them and the diseases they carry, and a new variant of the artificial mosquito could do it.

Genetically modified mosquitoes are quite different from their natural counterparts. On the one hand, insects are technically female, but their mouths look more like male mosquitoes, which are not able to bite or spread diseases. In addition, altered insects have malformed reproductive organs that prevent them from laying eggs.

When released into a population of mosquitoes, the genetically modified clutch spreads its mutation among other insects, eventually rendering the whole – or at least a large majority – female sterile. This change causes a dramatic collapse of the mosquito population, significantly reducing their potential for spreading the disease.

The work is promising, but not all members of the scientific community are involved. Critics of the book argue that genetic modification of organisms is a slippery slope that could cause more problems than it resolves. In addition, the elimination of mosquito vector species of malaria could allow other insects and new diseases to root.

Researchers hope someday release modified insects in areas of Africa where malaria is spreading in an uncontrolled way, but it is difficult to guess how much the mosquito mutation will spread.