Health & Lifestyle

GM mosquitoes answer to malaria?

Scientists have created mosquitoes that produce 95% male offspring in a bid to reduce malaria.

By destroying the X chromosome during sperm production, the exercise leaves very few sperm carrying the X chromosome to produce female embryos.
This could drastically reduce mosquito populations, according to science journal Nature Communications.
Although trials are not expected to take place soon, researchers say this marks an important step in the bid to produce a malaria control strategy that targets the genes.
Malaria is transmitted exclusively by mosquitoes. Despite measures such as nets or spraying homes with insecticides, malaria continues to kill hundreds of thousands of people annually, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa.
Source: BBC

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