2024 Author: Adelina Croftoon | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 02:07
The United States may soon become the first country using bacteriological weapons against mosquitoesthat spread viruses such as Zika, Dengue and Chikungunya.
US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) accepts applications from biotech companies for a project to use bacteria Wolbachia pipientis against the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus). Wolbachia is expected to work as a pesticide, killing only harmful mosquitoes and keeping the rest of the insects alive.
The plan, dubbed "MosquitoMate," involves raising mosquitoes infected with a special strain of Wolbachia and then releasing them into their natural environment. As a result of mating of infected males with females from the wild, insects will lay non-viable eggs - abnormalities in the male chromosomes will make it impossible for the larvae to appear. By releasing more and more infected males, scientists hope to gradually eliminate the population of tiger mosquitoes.
Currently, eight countries have reported cases of microcephaly and other birth defects suspected to be caused by the Zika virus. “The more effective tools we have in our hands, the better, so we will definitely give Wolbachia a chance. Of course, a plan for the use of this tool must be developed in detail,”said Tom Scott, an entomologist at the University of California, involved in the project.
During the MosquitoMate project, Wolbachia has been tested against mosquitoes in three states over the past three years. University of Kentucky entomologist Stephen Dobson says mosquito populations have declined by more than 70% in areas where the technology has been tested.
The MosquitoMate project has not met with serious opposition from the American public, which cannot be said about its British counterpart, which is being developed by Oxitec. The people of the kingdom have launched an extensive campaign on the Internet and the media, and have also filed a petition against the use of genetically modified mosquitoes - unlike the American project, Oxitec's strategy involves changing the mosquito genome to prevent insects from reproducing.
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