Original title: Transgenic male mosquitoes prevent offspring from living to adulthood

A British company has developed a genetically modified male mosquito, whose gene expression prevents the offspring produced by its female counterpart from living to adulthood. This transgenic mosquito can reduce the total number of mosquitoes in the experimental community by up to 96%. The researchers said that although this method is not once and for all, regular release of this transgenic mosquito can alleviate the damage caused by dengue fever, malaria and Zika virus. The relevant research was published in the latest issue of the journal Frontier of Bioengineering and Biotechnology.

Among all mosquitoes, only female mosquitoes bite people or animals, while female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes can transmit dengue fever, Zika virus, chikungunya virus and yellow fever. Although the symptoms of dengue infection in humans are generally mild, they can also be fatal. The existing control methods include the use of mosquito nets and insecticides, but mosquitoes will develop resistance to drugs.

In order to obtain a more long-term effective method, researchers from Oxitec, a British biotechnology company, conducted gene editing on male Aedes aegypti and named the modified mosquito OX5034. OX5034 expresses a gene that allows male offspring to survive, but prevents female larvae from living to adulthood unless an antibiotic antidote is given.

From May 2018 to April 2019, researchers released OX5034 in four densely populated communities in Sao Paulo, Brazil, including 100 in two blocks and 500 in the other two blocks, three times a week. The results showed that the total number of mosquitoes in these four communities decreased by 88% to 96% from November 2018 to April 2019, the peak period of mosquito breeding, compared with the nearby communities that did not release transgenic mosquitoes.

Although the latest study did not investigate whether suppressing mosquitoes would reduce the incidence of dengue fever, a study in 2021 found that after the introduction of transgenic mosquitoes, the incidence of dengue fever in Indonesia decreased by 77%.

In addition to dengue fever, Oxitec is working on other transgenic mosquitoes to reduce the spread of malaria and other diseases. (Reporter Liu Xia)