Malaria is a life threatening disease caused by parasites that are transmitted to people through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. WHO continues to highlight the urgent need for new and improved tools in the global response to malaria.
Recently researchers from the University of Maryland in US
and the IRSS research institute in Burkina Faso genetically enhanced a fungus
called Metarhizium pingshaense so it produces spider toxin. This genetically modified fungus has the
ability of killing a large number of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. For
testing the fungus, the research team designed a fake village in Burkino Faso,
West Africa.
In the trial researchers used 1500 mosquitoes, the number of
mosquitoes increased when they were left alone. After the exposure of Fungus,
only 13 mosquitoes were left in the trial. This trial showed that the modified
fungus have the ability of killing the mosquitoes in a very short period of
time by just infecting them. The genetically
modified fungus can be genetically engineered very easily.
To modify the fungus researchers used a toxin which is found
in the venom of a species of funnel-web spider in Australia. Once inside the
mosquito, this fungus start producing that toxin and hence infect the Anopheles
mosquitoes. As per the study researcher Mr. Raymond St. Leger, “A spider uses its
fangs to pierce the skin of insects and inject toxins, we replaced the fangs of
spider with Metarhizium”.
As per the Journal “science” in which results of this trial
were published, the genetically modified fungus could kill 99%% of the mosquitoes
population in just a month and half. According to Mr. Raymond St. Leger and
their colleagues “Deployment of transgenic Metarhizium against mosquitoes could
be rapid, with products that could synergistically integrate with existing
chemical control strategies to avert insecticide resistance”.
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