American scientists have created a genetically modified fungus that will help fight malaria and other diseases transmitted by insect bites, reports The Scientist. Report on the study of a team of specialists led by Raymond St. Leger) from the University of Maryland (University of Maryland) published in the journal Science.

Ledger's group changed the hereditary information of fungi Metarhizium anisopliae, which parasitize many insects. Fungi were divided into three groups. In the genome of the first of these genes were introduced, responsible for the production of peptide SM1, which prevents the attachment of sporozoites (one of the stages of development of malaria pathogens) to the salivary glands of mosquitoes. The second group obtained a gene encoding antibodies that glue pro-ozoites together. The third group of fungi was supplied with a scorpion toxin (scorpion) genome, killing malarial plasmodia.

According to the results of the study, the content of sporozoites in the saliva of mosquitoes infected with fungi of the three groups mentioned decreased by 71, 85 and 90 percent, respectively. In addition, the scientists found that after treatment of mosquitoes with fungi containing both SM1 and scorpion, the concentration of prozoites in the saliva of insects decreased by 98 percent.

Currently, Ledger and his colleagues are working on the creation of genetically modified fungi that are active against other infections that are transmitted by bloodsucking parasites, including trypanosomiasis, Lyme disease and dengue fever. Scientists intend to infect such fungi not only mosquitoes, but also ticks.

According to the World Health Organization, about 240 million people are infected each year in 108 countries. Every year more than 850,000 people die from this infection, most of them children.

News. Gradusnik. En.

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