The experience on mosquitoes has a surprising result



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(Newser)

The idea made sense on paper: Introduce genetically modified male mosquitoes to be sterile in the bedbug population and watch the number of insects drop. As New atlas reports, this is usually what happened in a Brazilian experience – but only for about 18 months. At this point, the numbers have rebounded, say Yale researchers in a new study to Scientific reports. But perhaps even more troubling is that scientists say that the modified genes are now appearing in the mosquito population, which was not supposed to happen. This is "most likely the cause of a more robust population than the population before release because of hybrid vigor," the researchers write in the study. The British company behind the experiment, Oxitec, strongly contests the results and tells Gizmodo that she is trying to retract or correct the study.

Yale researchers, however, say the results are clear. "The assertion was that the genes of the strain to let go could not enter the population because the offspring would die," said lead author Jeffrey Powell in a press release. "This is obviously not what happened." Before the test, it was estimated that 3% to 4% of apparently sterile mosquitoes would produce offspring, but that offspring was thought to be too weak to survive. These predictions now seem to have been too optimistic. The researchers do not say that the new strain of mosquitoes necessarily poses a greater risk to the health of the inhabitants of Jacobina, where the study took place. But "it's the unplanned result that's worrying," says Powell New atlas. (Maybe mosquito diet pills will work better?)

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