Project underway that may wipe out malaria by introducing genetically modified mosquitos

[Ajay]

How exactly does that gene spread in the wild, though? The only think evolution cares about is your offsprings ability to make offsprings better than the competition. So it seems like the sterile gene would fade away very quickly.

It’s a genedrrive therapy. It becomes present in ovum/sperm (or equivalent) of the species. Mosquitoes do not mutate fast enough to escape the death of the species. Evolution is the name we give a scientific theory. It not actually something that exists as an entity, it has no objective - neither do non sentient organisms. The only thing that could save a given species of mosquitoes would be that they have a long dormant gene that kicks in due to a change in their environment as the species collapses. This would create an adaptation ensuring their comeback. No way to predict that. If that’s the case - then the trial fails, but we will still learn from it.

 

[Zorba]

If I had to guess, they aren't hurting the fitness of the current generation. They are hurting the fitness of the subsequent generation by just making them sterile - something that might not apply as much evolutionary pressure to fix given the effect being distant from the initial reproduction, and there might not be anything that turns mosquitos "off" for mating with the mosquitoes that will produce sterile offspring.

A) that's completely implausible. B) Lets just throw out hands up and continue to suffer from mosquito-borne illnesses because evolution, right?

So they'd have to release a new batch of modified mosquitoes every breeding season, in an attempt to overwhelm the natural males? And the theory is each time you cut the breeding population of the next generation a little bit more?

Since you couldn't count on natural spread, it seems like you'd need very large and widespread releases.

 

[Zorba]

It’s a drive gene therapy. It becomes present in ovum/sperm (or equivalent) of the species. Mosquitoes do not mutate fast enough to escape the death of the species. Evolution is the name we give a scientific theory. It not actually something that exists as an entity, it has no objective - neither do non sentient organisms. The only thing that could save a given species of mosquitoes would be that they have a long dormant gene that kicks in due to a change in their environment as the species collapses. This would create an adaptation ensuring their comeback. No way to predict that. If that’s the case - then the trial fails, but we will still learn from it.

I understand that about evolution. But if your offspring are sterile, your genes don't spread. So I don't understand how the mutated gene overtakes the natural gene in a wild population.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

I thought bats ate tons of mosquitoes every night. Will someone please think of the bats?

They do, but in the absence of mosquitoes they'll happily eat tons of other stuff. Well, assuming that other stuff hasn't been annihilated by humans anyhow.

 

[Brainonska511]

So they'd have to release a new batch of modified mosquitoes every breeding season, in an attempt to overwhelm the natural males? And the theory is each time you cut the breeding population of the next generation a little bit more?

Since you couldn't count on natural spread, it seems like you'd need very large and widespread releases.

This link from Science explains it better than I can, assuming this is the same tech being discussed in the OP's article: https://www.sciencenews.org/article...neered to,doublesex inside the fertilized egg.

 

[Ajay]

This link from Science explains it better than I can, assuming this is the same tech being discussed in the OP's article: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/gene-drives-mosquito-malaria-crispr-africa-public-outreach#:~:text=Male mosquitoes are engineered to,doublesex inside the fertilized egg.

Great article, thanks! Not the same as the OP's article - more like what I brought up. Much better analysis of the risks and the benefits of educatiNG a community.

 

[Moonbeam]

You know, SOMETIMES you make perfect sense!

Thank you. However I prefer to think I generally do make sense and occasionally others have developed enough sense themselves, in this or that area I may opine on, to recognize it. I liken it to a mountain climber who can be seen by others until, from whatever vantage point they witness the climb, he disappears in clouds.

 

[Zorba]

This link from Science explains it better than I can, assuming this is the same tech being discussed in the OP's article: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/gene-drives-mosquito-malaria-crispr-africa-public-outreach#:~:text=Male mosquitoes are engineered to,doublesex inside the fertilized egg.

That is really interesting. Make the males carry genes that will make the female offspring unable to reproduce, but not that males.

 

[hal2kilo]

That is really interesting. Make the males carry genes that will make the female offspring unable to reproduce, but not that males.

There used to be a program, and maybe it still exists that irradiated male mosquitos so they would be sterile.
Googled - https://nucleus.iaea.org/sites/naip...s the target wild insect population over time.

 

[igor_kavinski]

There used to be a program, and maybe it still exists that irradiated male mosquitos so they would be sterile.

The males don't even cause malaria. Paying for the sins of their women

 

[Moonbeam]

There used to be a program, and maybe it still exists that irradiated male mosquitos so they would be sterile.
Googled - https://nucleus.iaea.org/sites/naipc/dirsit/Pages/SIT-for-mosquitoes-FAQ.aspx#:~:text=The SIT is an environment-friendly insect pest management,reduces the target wild insect population over time.

This is a new advance that is far superior to that one you mentioned. The old method required the continual release of millions of sterile males to cut down on the number of fertile males having success at mating, sort of like Republican males having less success with competing with their woke meterosexual counterparts. The new technique modifies a chromosome in such a way that the modification on one strand of the DNA molecule duplicates itself to an unmodified strand on its counterpart insuring near 100% transmission of the trait. This means that a single introduction of the modified gene into a population will express itself phenotypically throughout the population in a few generations, or in the case of mosquitos, in as little as months. The modification does little to the mosquitos except making them unable to host malaria. It does not wipe out the mosquito population but uses it to spread itself quickly making the whole female population of mosquitos immune to being carriers of the disease.

 

[HomerJS]

Sounds like a script