Parasite-Resistant Mosquitoes: A Natural Weapon Against Malaria?

摘要

In a world where mosquitoes were resistant to infection with parasites, no human being would suffer from malaria. With that idea in mind, some researchers are trying to sneak resistance genes into mosquitoes and encourage those genes to spread through the population. But a paper on page 577 of this issue suggests that engineering resistance into mosquitoes may be unnecessary. In an endemic area in Mali, researchers found that many Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes—Africa's most important malaria vector— are already resistant to Plasmod-iumfalciparum, the malaria parasite. Resistance appears to reside in one or more genes in a very small genomic region, the researchers found—and the mosquitoes that don't have those genes may just be the odd ones out.