Researchers are working to imitate the genetic mechanism of the common flour beetle in malaria resistant mosquitoes which might help in fighting the incapacitating parasitic disease which kills people between 700,000 and 2.7 million yearly. Biologist Bruce Hay along with his team developed a set of genes for the Drosophila fruit fly. A genetic complex is inherited by the female in the form of a toxin which along with Medea leads to embryonic arrest.
The egg of the female gets flooded with a poisonous protein during the development stage which kills the embryo. This same technique can be used for mosquitoes so that they can resist picking up malaria which gets spread among the human population. The researchers stated that in case males with Medea elements are released into the mosquito population it will can result in malaria resistance within a year. This is being termed as a notable innovation where drosophila engineering can be applied for creating an impact on human diseases.
Via sciam
