3 ms·

One thing I am not understanding here is why not target the malaria parasite itself, instead of the mosquito? (Other than the obvious fact that mosquitoes are a

by K0balt 2y ago

One thing I am not understanding here is why not target the malaria parasite itself, instead of the mosquito? (Other than the obvious fact that mosquitoes are annoying) it seems like that would be the route of abundant caution with minimal consequences?

wahern 2y ago
AFAIU, current mature gene drive solutions depend on sexual reproduction. Protozoa usually reproduce asexually, and Plasmodium falciparum in particular is haploid--only one set of chromosomes--during the part of its lifecycle in humans where it principally reproduces.[1] I'm not a scientist but I think this poses unique and probably more difficult engineering problems for building and using a gene drive, and we're not nearly as far along the curve in understanding and resolving them. [1] The process is pretty complex: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasmodium_falciparum#Meiosis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasmodium_falciparum#Meiosis Seems like maybe there's opportunity there when it infects the mosquito, though: "Such gametes can fuse within the mosquito to form a diploid (2N) plasmodium zygote, the only diploid stage in the life cycle of these parasites."
- im3w1l 2y ago
  What if we used gene-drive to modify the mosquitos so that malaria cannot use them as a host?
  - _yb2s 2y ago
    That's not a bad idea- but you'd have to actually figure out how to do it, we already know how to do a gene drive.
  - avidiax 2y ago
    The article discusses this as the tact taken by the Malaria Initiative. https://stopmalaria.org/ https://stopmalaria.org/