4 ms·
What technical limitations allow us to genetically target mosquitos with this but not the malaria parasite itself?
by tomatotomato37 8y ago
What technical limitations allow us to genetically target mosquitos with this but not the malaria parasite itself?
- sampo 8y agoThis is a good question. I don't have a full answer. The proposed gene drive causes male mosquitoes to produce sperm that, when it fertilizes egg cells, will lead to only make offspring. After several generations of this spreading, eventually all offspring will be male, and that will be the last generation. The gene drive does this by attacking the genes in the mosquito sex determination system called doublesex. I guess, no-one has discovered a similar vulnerable mechanism in the malaria plasmodium sex determination genes. The malaria plasmodium is a single-celled organism, and it goes through both asexual and sexual reproductive phases in its life cycle. But it does go through the sexual phase, too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doublesex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doublesex