3 ms·

> Would it be a problem if several different quasi-species of mosquito lost the potential to incubate malaria? This assumes it would affect all those quasi-spe

• jessaustin 11y ago
  The only possible difference would be between those varieties that are presently capable of incubating malaria and those that are not. If the driven allele actually works for human purposes, it will work on the former, and have no effect on the latter. One might imagine a gene the expression of which is modulated by the environment. If this had the effect you fear it would effectively create two species anyway. Either 1) a mosquito population would inhabit a "benign" environment (for the mosquitoes) and individuals could either incubate malaria or not, or 2) a mosquito population would inhabit an environment in which malaria incubation was deleterious to (mosquito) survival. Humanity seeks to modify the first sort of population, and will not affect the second which does not interbreed with it. It's probably a good idea to study the second however!