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Scientists Release Controversial Genetically Modified Mosquitoes In High-Security Lab (npr.org)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: Scientists have launched a major new phase in the testing of a controversial genetically modified organism: a mosquito designed to quickly spread a genetic mutation lethal to its own species, NPR has learned. For the first time, researchers have begun large-scale releases of the engineered insects, into a high-security laboratory in Terni, Italy. The goal is to see if the mosquitoes could eventually provide a powerful new weapon to help eradicate malaria in Africa, where most cases occur. The lab was specially built to evaluate the modified insects in as close to a natural environment as possible without the risk of releasing them into the wild, about which there are deep concerns regarding unforeseen effects on the environment.
To prevent any unforeseen effects on the environment, scientists have always tried to keep genetically engineered organisms from spreading their mutations. But in this case, researchers want the modification to spread. So they engineered mosquitoes with a "gene drive." A gene drive is like a "selfish gene," says entomologist Ruth Mueller, because it doesn't follow the normal rules of genetics. Normally, traits are passed to only half of all offspring. With the gene drive, nearly all the progeny inherit the modification. Researchers created the mosquitoes by using the powerful new gene-editing technique known as CRISPR, which Mueller likens to a "molecular scissor which can cut at a specific site in the DNA." The cut altered a gene known as "doublesex," which is involved in the sexual development of the mosquitoes. While genetically female, the transformed insects have mouths that resemble male mosquito mouths. That means they can't bite and so can't spread the malaria parasite. In addition, the insects' reproductive organs are deformed, which means they can't lay eggs. As more and more female mosquitoes inherit two copies of the modification, more and more become sterile. Critics fear that these gene-drive mosquitoes could run amok and wreak havoc in the wild. Not only could the insects cause a negative effect on crops by eliminating important pollinators, but the insects' population crash could also lead to other mosquitos coming with other diseases.
Mueller assures NPR's Rob Stein that the lab the mosquitos are in is very secure, adding that even if the mosquitos did escape they would not be able to survive Italy's climate. "To enter the most secure part of the facility, Mueller punches a security code into a keypad to open a sliding glass door," reports NPR. "As the door seals, a powerful blower makes sure none of the genetically modified mosquitoes inside escape. Anyone entering must don white lab coats to make it easier to spot any mosquitoes that might try to hitch a ride out of the lab and must pass through a second sealed door and blower."
To prevent any unforeseen effects on the environment, scientists have always tried to keep genetically engineered organisms from spreading their mutations. But in this case, researchers want the modification to spread. So they engineered mosquitoes with a "gene drive." A gene drive is like a "selfish gene," says entomologist Ruth Mueller, because it doesn't follow the normal rules of genetics. Normally, traits are passed to only half of all offspring. With the gene drive, nearly all the progeny inherit the modification. Researchers created the mosquitoes by using the powerful new gene-editing technique known as CRISPR, which Mueller likens to a "molecular scissor which can cut at a specific site in the DNA." The cut altered a gene known as "doublesex," which is involved in the sexual development of the mosquitoes. While genetically female, the transformed insects have mouths that resemble male mosquito mouths. That means they can't bite and so can't spread the malaria parasite. In addition, the insects' reproductive organs are deformed, which means they can't lay eggs. As more and more female mosquitoes inherit two copies of the modification, more and more become sterile. Critics fear that these gene-drive mosquitoes could run amok and wreak havoc in the wild. Not only could the insects cause a negative effect on crops by eliminating important pollinators, but the insects' population crash could also lead to other mosquitos coming with other diseases.
Mueller assures NPR's Rob Stein that the lab the mosquitos are in is very secure, adding that even if the mosquitos did escape they would not be able to survive Italy's climate. "To enter the most secure part of the facility, Mueller punches a security code into a keypad to open a sliding glass door," reports NPR. "As the door seals, a powerful blower makes sure none of the genetically modified mosquitoes inside escape. Anyone entering must don white lab coats to make it easier to spot any mosquitoes that might try to hitch a ride out of the lab and must pass through a second sealed door and blower."
Itâ(TM)s almost like you didnâ(TM)t even bother to read the summary where they specifically identified such risks and hence have them in a secure controlled area
but birds are apparently more important than people. I suspect any other animals this effects will end up more important than people as well.
Yes, I'm sure the lab is "very secure".
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
...lethal to its own species"
This sentence scares the shit of me. We should not be going down that road AT ALL.
but birds are apparently more important than people. I suspect any other animals this effects will end up more important than people as well.
For many on the envirowhacko side, humans are the only non-natural animal on the planet.
The "envirowhacko" as you call them, understand that we humans are a part of nature. This is our environment. Damage it and you damage people's health and well being. We evolved in a very complex ecosystem and tampering with it can have horrible consequences. Just look how pesticides are destroying bees - you know the pollinators that our agriculture depends on.
The birds add beauty and music to the world. The mosquitoes are food to many birds, other insects, and bats.
And as we destroy more and more of our habitat for the sake of profits and this idiotic notion of "progress" we are becoming more and more distressed.
I don't blame them. A typical American community is fucking ugly, boring and depressing. It's horribly depressing that one has to drive to a park in order to be in nature and have green space. And then have to put up with idiots playing loud music or driving their ATVs and motorcycles and making all this noise and pollution because they want to "enjoy" nature.
The world is going to be transformed over the next few decades by work like this. Problems like malaria will be addressed. The bad news is that these early efforts carry unknown risks the good news is that the work is being done by experts in the field. This sort of work will be accessible to hackers in very few years so lets hope that regulated agencies beat them to it. If you thought the nuclear standoff of the cold war years was bad just wait for the biological equivalent. The genie is out of the bottle now, work like this is as much a part of national defense as hyper-sonic missiles.
Facts are history now plebs have politics for religion on social media.
In my opinion those insects should be modified so, that the bite would cause the target human unable to produce more humans. And then by all means release the mothafuckers...
I for one, assume that we can reverse engineer the ability to reproduce when the human population has shrunk to say 1Bil in numbers...
Win / Win don't You think?
But noooo, once again, They are doing just the opposite.
I mean aren't insects going to be extinct anyways in 100-200 hundred years? At least if we are allowed to continue The but rape of this planet ? To Me this is basically an ill logic. Let's kill those insects that are vital for every ecosystem so that those witch are MOST harmful to it can thrive ?
Using that word in the title implies released into the wild, which is a headline grabber.
Let's get real.
Just like the secure that housed the African Bees? You know, the Killer Bees? Murphy's Laws assumes that Anything that can go wrong will go wrong! This is the type of mistakes "scientists"make all the time. Beware!
They are tropical mosquitoes. They can't survive outdoors in Italy in February. They also can't interbreed with Italian mosquitoes.
Killing Anopheles (malaria) and Aedes aegypti (yellow fever, dengue, zika) will have little environmental repercussions because other non-vector mosquitoes can fill the same niche. Furthermore, these species are invasive species in many areas, displacing native mosquitoes. So exterminating them can help to restore the natural balance. Many islands, including Hawaii, have no native mosquito species.
The Precautionary Principle(with Application to the Genetic Modification ofOrganisms)Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Rupert Read, Raphael Douady, Joseph Norman,Yaneer Bar-YamSchool of Engineering, New York UniversityNew England Complex Systems InstituteInstitute of Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, C.N.R.S., ParisSchool of Philosophy, University of East Anglia
"Tempers are wearing thin. Let's just hope some robot doesn't kill everybody." --Bender
My first thought too. Can an expert explain how this could work, other than on a strictly local and seasonal level?
Only about 200 of the 3,500 species of mosquitoes even bite man, and of those there are 5 species that spread disease. The ecosystem will do just fine.
They are tropical mosquitoes. They can't survive outdoors in Italy in February.
Those of us who are older might remember similar claims being made about Africanized Honeybees - yes they were wreaking havoc in South America, but they’d never make it past Panama because they couldn’t survive the climate. And they’d never, EVER make it to the US...
#DeleteChrome
are the ones made of wood
there are only 4 of them left flying, including one in NZ
The idea is that the gene passes on through male offspring and dooms only the female offspring. You are right though that evolution selects against it, with only males surviving to pass on their genes, reproduction rate of edited mosquitoes is much reduced. But you can offset that disadvantage by breeding the defective mosquitoes. Release enough of them and you overpower evolutionary pressure trying to remove the defective gene from the gene pool.
Oh, sweet. So we aren't going to try and get rid of mosquitos completely, just make it so they won't bite people anymore.
That seems like a much better approach than wiping them off the face of the planet.
fucking hell
Those of us who are older might remember similar claims being made about Africanized Honeybees
I am old enough to remember the "killer bee" hysteria. It was a media phenomena, that had little to do with "science".
And they’d never, EVER make it to the US...
That is not at all what I remember. The media reports were that killer bees were unstoppable and were going to destroy western civilization.
What the scientists were saying is that hybrid bees would likely reach the US around 1990 (accurate) and that it would be no big deal (also accurate).
How many of your friends and neighbors have been victims of "killer bees"?
About 100 Americans die annually from bee stings, mostly due to allergic reactions. Since 1990, that number has gone down.
We certainly don't need more humans.
We do need more developed regions of course, so that the living standard of the existing humans improve. Actually, the development would also help with curbing the amount of humans: high development brings low pop growth.
Sure but there isn't much point to any of it if they don't intend to release them sooner or later. Then again, might be worth the risk. They should try Texas.
The idea is that the gene passes on through male offspring and dooms only the female offspring.
The other part of the idea is that the gene copies itself into the matching diploid DNA, so it has twice the propagation rate of a normal gene.
Most likely there would be enclaves of surviving mosquitoes that would repopulate the species, so the mosquitoes with the gene drive would need to be periodically re-released. But we don't need to kill every one, we just need to reduce R0 to well below one for the mosquito borne diseases.
"and that it would be no big deal (also accurate)."
Actually that isn't accurate. Overhyped, sure. The damage is much slower but rates of Africanization grow and beekeepers are regularly having hives go African and also are regularly having issue with wild swarms which they could normally safely vacuum up and gain a free new colony being aggressive africanized bees. It may well be that africanized bees are slowly but surely replacing honeybees.
Corn doesn't contain any notable nutrients so how exactly is it supposed to end a famine?
Species die out all the time due to our actions and without us it isn't like the ones which bother us are somehow the magical lynchpins of life and the thousands of random species wiped out every day are insignificant. If you eliminate the biting mosquitoes there probably will be effects we don't anticipate. Just because there is change doesn't mean its all going to end.
The elephant in the room is that we don't actually require more humans and more developed regions of the planet.
Malaria is a major cause of childhood mortality in Africa. High child mortality causes parents to have more children, and to invest fewer resources in each child. Reducing childhood mortality lowers population growth. This has happened repeatedly, over and over, all around the world. It is happening now even in Africa ... except where malaria (or war) is still endemic.
"yeah a failure could result in mosquitoes that are mostly sterile being released into an environment where there is nothing for them to mate with, and that they can't survive in...
The outcome here could be catastrophic..."
That is pretending this entire exercise isn't just intellectual masturbation and a waste of effort and funds if they don't release them in an environment with none of those limitations sooner or later. Since they obviously plan to do that anyway I say just get on with it. My back yard is fine. I give permission, don't even have to tell me when you do it.
It may well be that africanized bees are slowly but surely replacing honeybees.
The "killer" bees are honeybees. African-European hybrid honeybees are replacing European honeybees. Neither is a native species in North America.
Since the new arrivals are more active, the biggest effect has been increased honey production.
Corn doesn't contain any notable nutrients so how exactly is it supposed to end a famine?
Corn/maize is a good source of many minerals and micronutrients, and even contains reasonable amounts of protein, although it is deficient in lysine. Famine victims can't survive indefinitely on a 100% corn diet, but it has plenty of calories, and when combined with pulses (beans and peas) or supplemented with meat, fish, eggs, or dairy, it is nutritious.
There is more than one type of famine. Kwashiorkor is a type of starvation resulting from a lack of nutrients and protein deficiency, even if calories are adequate. Marasmus is starvation caused by lack of calories. Corn/maize can relieve either.
And Mulder will have to schlep to Antarctica to rescue her.
To be fair, western civilization does seem to be coughing up blood at the moment. I'm all for blaming the bees.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
What could possibly go wrong...
"Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...
Corn/maize is a good source of many minerals and micronutrients, and even contains reasonable amounts of protein, although it is deficient in lysine. Famine victims can't survive indefinitely on a 100% corn diet, but it has plenty of calories, and when combined with pulses (beans and peas) or supplemented with meat, fish, eggs, or dairy, it is nutritious.
And then there's masa, which is substantially more nutritious than unprocessed corn.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Yeah, but saying "they made the cage bigger" doesn't get clicks for your article.
Once mosquitoes will be removed, what will frogs eat?
Mosquitoes are *not* a required part of the food web. If all mosquitoes went extinct today there would be no impact at all on the food web.
Personally, I would build said lab in the center of Antarctica where the temps are -60.
If the mosquitoes made it out of the lab, it would become a mosquito shaped snowflake a few seconds later.
Yeah, totally. Here's a new slogan for you:
Anthropogenic mass extinction - what could possibly go wrong??!!
Well, less animals being infected with disease might actually effect some populations.
Anybody know offhand what percent of lion kills are infected with a disease transmissible by mosquito?
GMosquitos have been released before!
Even Google did it.
Taking mosquitoes entirely out of the ecosystem by making them sterile? Very dangerous to the ecosystem.
On a recent Science Friday episode they discussed another solution which is actually viable, which is to make mosquitoes shy away from human blood. Humans don't get infected, mosquitoes can continue living, the ecosystem can continue functioning as is, everybody wins.
"Life, Uh, Finds a Way" Jurassic Park, Dr. Ian Malcolm, 1993.
E Proelio Veritas.
"adding that even if the mosquitos did escape they would not be able to survive Italy's climate"
Northern Italy here, first outdoor mosquito sighting this year: February 22.
Do it in, say, North-Sweden, even IF they escape they freeze before they could do any harm.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Brazil did that two years ago, to good results. https://labiotech.eu/medical/o...
"and when combined with pulses (beans and peas) or supplemented with meat, fish, eggs, or dairy, it is nutritious."
Then again those things, not supplemented by corn are also nutritious.
We don't need more developed regions. Having an exclusion zone controlled by mosquitoes is an effective way to keep this planet's lungs intact. Without any checks on growth the planet will be covered in either concrete, corn fields or palm plantations. I suppose I'm a troll for wanting to keep some areas of the planet off-limits... I'd certainly rather there was a more civilised way to keep green spaces!
Parts of Mexico and the US Southwest aren't so different from parts of Africa. I can't imagine why anybody would think those bees would have trouble.
My God, it's Full of Source!
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