EPA Approves Release of Bacteria-Carrying Mosquitoes To 20 States (nature.com)

schwit1 writes: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved the use of a common bacterium to kill wild mosquitoes that transmit viruses such as dengue, yellow fever and Zika, Nature's news team has learned. On November 3rd, the agency told biotechnology start-up MosquitoMate that it could release the bacterium Wolbachia pipientis into the environment as a tool against the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus). Lab-reared mosquitoes will deliver the bacterium to wild mosquito populations. The decision -- which the EPA has not formally announced -- allows the company, which is based in Lexington, Kentucky, to release the bacteria-infected mosquitoes in 20 U.S. states and Washington DC.

MosquitoMate will rear the Wolbachia-infected A. albopictus mosquitoes in its laboratories, and then sort males from females. Then the laboratory males, which don't bite, will be released at treatment sites. When these males mate with wild females, which do not carry the same strain of Wolbachia, the resulting fertilized eggs don't hatch because the paternal chromosomes do not form properly. The company says that over time, as more of the Wolbachia-infected males are released and breed with the wild partners, the pest population of A. albopictus mosquitoes dwindles. Other insects, including other species of mosquito, are not harmed by the practice, says Stephen Dobson, an entomologist at the University of Kentucky in Lexington and founder of MosquitoMate.

Comments

Re:I'm actually amazed that this works

[Anonymous Coward]

(a) because breeding captive mosquitoes is not very difficult (though it's not pain free: mosquitoes require a blood meal to reproduce, which often involves a person sticking his/her arm in the cage)

(b) because if the "sterile males" are released in the right time and place, they outnumber the wild males, so *most* wild females mate with a sterile male; repeated a few times this can actually wipe out the wild population

(c) but as far as I know, separating captive males and females is not so easy

Source: I used to work in a tropical medicine institute (but not directly with any mosquitoes).

Finally!

[dHagger]

The Wolbachia bacteria already exists naturally in insects all over the world, including several species of mosquitoes. The bacteria inhibits reproduction of viruses like Zika, Dengue and Chikungunya in the mosquito, significantly reducing the risk of spreading the virus. This without using any kind of chemicals or genetic engineering. The World Mosquito Program has more information about Wolbachia: http://www.eliminatedengue.com...

These comments are terrible

[GrumpySteen]

The bacteria they're using already exists in nature and already infects mosquitoes. Nothing is being released that isn't already out there. All this conjecture about genetically modified organisms, hybrids, extinction, jumping species, etc. is just knee-jerk fear-mongering by people who have no clue what they're talking about.

Re:A killer gene drive? What could possibly go wro

[Ol Olsoc]

By approving to only 20 states, do they really think the mosquitoes will not cross state lines? Or jump to Mexico or Canada? What if a country like N.Korea starts designing and releasing their own organisms in a "F the world" gesture - then will it be seen as a problem?

I don't know that the concept is to have strict geographic borders. Any borders will be very fuzzy. But the highly focused control methods are not new. Bacillus thuringiensis I is also used to control Mosquitoes. And it does a great job, killing the larvae of just the mosquitoes (also fungus gnat and blackfly larvae) but that's it. In the pond in my backyard, we use it, and doesn't bother the frogs or fish one bit.

Bacillus thuringiensis K a version of the bacteria that goes after Gypsy moths. And it's approved for "organic" status.

Both completely natural, not man made and found on beaches.

And did you know that there are some species of insect that cannot reproduce without Wolbachia, the bacteria in question? It is a very common bacteria, it has the same effect in a male mosquito who picks it up randomly as in a purposely infected one.

We've learned a lot about pest control, and have gone far beyond early and clumsy efforts. While so many Slashdotters are still stuck in the 1960's Andromeda Strain world, we've been using these highly focused controls for many years. might as well rail on about vaccines.

tl;dr version. if Wolbachia is a problem, we're screwed already because it's ubiquitous. As for NK pulling some insect borne stunt, its them and everyone else. This isn't rocket surgery.