Scientists have entered a new era of malaria research after genetically altering a mosquito to make it less effective at spreading the disease. In time it could help reduce the estimated one to three million malaria deaths which occur worldwide each year.
Geneticists at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, inserted a gene into the mosquito that makes a substance known to block the development of the malaria parasite. Importantly, the gene was placed in a part of the mosquito DNA which allows it to be passed on to subsequent generations, according to a report in the journal, Nature.
The malaria parasite infects between 300 million and 500 million people each year, and particularly affects Africa. The mosquito is an essential part of the disease's spread with the parasites that cause the disease transferred by bites.
The researchers used advanced genetic techniques to insert an antiparasitic gene into the mosquito to block the transfer of malaria. The gene produces a substance that interferes with the development of the parasite as it migrates from the mosquito's gut to its saliva glands.
The transgenic mosquitoes were 80 per cent less effective at spreading a mouse form of malaria. The technique has not been proven in human forms of the disease, but to be effective it would be necessary to release large numbers of the genetically altered mosquitoes to reduce the incidence of the disease.
"This is a proof of principle and as such is a milestone in malaria research," according to an accompanying report by specialists from the European Molecular Biology Lab in Germany. They warned, however, that much more research was required.