According to the journal Nature, in the laboratory, the researchers achieved the fact that the gene blocking malarial parasites was transmitted from several individuals of the whole colony of mosquitoes in just a few generations, according to the Internet publication for girls and women aged 14 to 35 Pannochka. Net If this gene can be spread among the natural population of malarial mosquitoes, this, as the researchers hope, will contribute to reducing the incidence of malaria.
According to statistics of the World Health Organization (WHO), about one million people died from malaria in 2008.
Resistance transfer.
Previously, various groups of scientists were able to create mosquitoes that do not tolerate malaria, by introducing a special gene that prevents the development of parasites that cause disease.
However, scientists have set themselves a huge task: to introduce transgenic individuals into a huge natural population of mosquitoes of the globe.
Meanwhile, if the new gene does not give mosquitoes an advantage over ordinary individuals, it will soon disappear.
Researchers from the University of London, as well as the University of Seattle are convinced that the solution to this problem is found.
They introduced into the mosquito DNA a gene responsible for the production of a return enzyme endonuclease called I-Scel.
Endonuclease is a natural enzyme capable of splitting DNA molecules in two. The cell repair mechanism uses this gene as a template for the reproduction of the molecule, whereupon the endonuclease enzyme gene is copied and all the sperm produced by the mosquito mice becomes the carrier of this gene.
The progeny of these mosquitoes receives the same gene, and the process is repeated many times.
Under the experimental conditions, the gene was transferred to half of the laboratory mosquitoes in 12 generations.
Defeat Malaria.
Professor of the University of London Andrea Chrisanti said: "This is a very inspiring technological achievement, and I hope that it will open the way to solutions to many global problems in medicine. At first I was rather skeptical and thought that probably it would not work, but the results are so encouraging that I start to think otherwise ".
Krisanti predicts that in the future, perhaps, it will be possible to introduce a gene, through which mosquitoes will bite animals, not humans. Also, genetic engineering techniques can block the multiplication of parasitic microorganisms in insects or the transmission of disease by male mosquitoes.
Professor Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Janet Hemingway stressed that the results of recent studies - is "an incredible breakthrough".
She noted that before the wide application of the new technology is still quite far away and that, among other things, the society is not fully ripe for such genetic manipulations.
"However, this is a significant step forward.
It provides us with an inexpensive technology that can be used to introduce "useful" genes into the wild mosquito population with the help of a comparatively small number of individuals with modified genes, "added Hemingway.
WHO staff member Dr. Yeya Toure said: "The results of the study are very important for introducing a foreign gene into the mosquito population. However, after the demonstration of the experiment in the laboratory it will be necessary to conduct additional studies before this technique can be used in the basis of the genetic control strategy ".
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