Monday 15 August 2016

Resistance to GM Mosquitoes

 

There seems to be a surprising degree of local resistance, given their relaxed attitude to GM tomato paste etc, in Key Haven Florida to a trial by Oxitec intended to test whether disease-carrying mosquitoes can be eliminated using gene technology (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/14/florida-keys-zika-virus-genetically-modified-mosquitoes). The intention is to flood the area of the island with non-biting (only the females take blood meals) male mosquitoes of the species Aedes aegypti engineered to carry a gene, stopping their offspring surviving to reach maturity. This species is a human disease vector for malaria, dengue fever, chikungunya and the highly newsworthy zika virus. Female mosquitoes only mate once, so the GM males would effectively sterilise them. I don't think the release of GM males would cause any problems to humans (although, removing mosquitoes from the environment might cause problems for insect-eating fish and birds) but the chances of permanently removing the vector are, perhaps, somewhat slim. Females might be selective about males they mate with (it's their genetic investment that is at risk) and the island population could be rapidly re-populated by mosquitoes flying in from surrounding areas.

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