{"id":180667,"date":"2022-04-22T19:33:42","date_gmt":"2022-04-22T14:03:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=180667"},"modified":"2022-04-22T19:33:42","modified_gmt":"2022-04-22T14:03:42","slug":"genetically-modified-mosquitoes-for-controlling-vector-borne-diseases-successful-trial-gives-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/genetically-modified-mosquitoes-for-controlling-vector-borne-diseases-successful-trial-gives-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"Genetically modified mosquitoes for controlling vector-borne diseases? Successful trial gives hope"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h5><b>What is the News?<\/b><\/h5>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Oxitec, the UK-based company, has said that the first open-air study of Genetically Modified Mosquitoes(GMM) in the United States has yielded positive results.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><b>What are Genetically Modified Mosquitoes(GMM)?<\/b><\/h5>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These are the mosquitoes whose genome has been altered using recombinant DNA technology. Their genome is altered in a way to favour the few desired physiological traits and the generation of desired biological products.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The desired trait of these GMM is to reduce the transmission of mosquito-borne human diseases.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><b>Why were Genetically Modified Mosquitoes(GMM) developed?<\/b><\/h5>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Aedes aegypti<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> mosquitoes spread viruses including dengue, Zika, and chikungunya.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Among them, only female mosquitoes bite. They need a blood meal to produce eggs. Male mosquitoes do not bite. They feed on nectar from flowers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hence, to reduce the spread of these viruses. GM Mosquitoes have been developed.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><b>How are GM mosquitoes produced and used to control <\/b><b><i>Ae. aegypti <\/i><\/b><b>mosquitoes?<\/b><\/h5>\n<figure id=\"attachment_180668\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-180668\" style=\"width: 464px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-180668 \" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/screen.jpeg?resize=464%2C372&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"464\" height=\"372\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/screen.jpeg?w=913&amp;ssl=1 913w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/screen.jpeg?resize=300%2C241&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/screen.jpeg?resize=768%2C616&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 464px) 100vw, 464px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-180668\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: University of Floria website<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scientists produced GM male aegypti mosquitoes eggs in a lab. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They programmed these males to carry a gene that they\u2019ll pass to their offspring when they mate in the wild.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The gene is designed to kill female offspring since only female mosquitoes bite and spread disease.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The male offspring live on to pass the gene along when they mate. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As each generation mates, more females die, and the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A. aegypti<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> population in the area should decrease.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><b>What are the concerns regarding this method?<\/b><\/h5>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The concerns range from the modified mosquitoes harming people, their impact on mosquito-eating species and other unintended consequences such as the emergence of a deadly virus.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Source: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This post is based on the article<\/span><b> \u201cGenetically modified mosquitoes for controlling vector-borne diseases? Successful trial gives hope\u201d<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> published in <\/span><b>Down To Earth <\/b>on <b>21st April 2022.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is the News? Oxitec, the UK-based company, has said that the first open-air study of Genetically Modified Mosquitoes(GMM) in the United States has yielded positive results. What are Genetically Modified Mosquitoes(GMM)? These are the mosquitoes whose genome has been altered using recombinant DNA technology. Their genome is altered in a way to favour the&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/genetically-modified-mosquitoes-for-controlling-vector-borne-diseases-successful-trial-gives-hope\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Genetically modified mosquitoes for controlling vector-borne diseases? Successful trial gives hope<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10317,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,1738,9],"tags":[10504,10514],"class_list":["post-180667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-science-and-technology-daily-factly-articles","category-public","tag-down-to-earth","tag-dte","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":18,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1698367303},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10317"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180667\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}