A report on Malaria and Gene drive

Malaria parasite connecting to a red blood cell

The life cycle of malaria parasites. Sporozoites are introduced by a mosquito bite. They migrate to the liver, where they multiply into thousands of merozoites. The merozoites infect red blood cells and replicate, infecting more and more red blood cells. Some parasites form gametocytes, which are taken up by a mosquito, continuing the life cycle.

Micrograph of a placenta from a stillbirth due to maternal malaria. H&E stain. Red blood cells are anuclear; blue/black staining in bright red structures (red blood cells) indicate foreign nuclei from the parasites.

Electron micrograph of a Plasmodium falciparum-infected red blood cell (center), illustrating adhesion protein "knobs"

The blood film is the gold standard for malaria diagnosis.

Ring-forms and gametocytes of Plasmodium falciparum in human blood

An Anopheles stephensi mosquito shortly after obtaining blood from a human (the droplet of blood is expelled as a surplus). This mosquito is a vector of malaria, and mosquito control is an effective way of reducing its incidence.

Man spraying kerosene oil in standing water, Panama Canal Zone, 1912

Walls where indoor residual spraying of DDT has been applied. The mosquitoes remain on the wall until they fall down dead on the floor.

An advertisement for quinine as a malaria treatment from 1927.

Deaths due to malaria per million persons in 2012

Past and current malaria prevalence in 2009

Ancient malaria oocysts preserved in Dominican amber

British doctor Ronald Ross received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1902 for his work on malaria.

Chinese medical researcher Tu Youyou received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2015 for her work on the antimalarial drug artemisinin.

Artemisia annua, source of the antimalarial drug artemisinin

U.S. Marines with malaria in a field hospital on Guadalcanal, October 1942

Members of the Malaria Commission of the League of Nations collecting larvae on the Danube delta, 1929

1962 Pakistani postage stamp promoting malaria eradication program

Disability-adjusted life year for malaria per 100,000 inhabitants in 2004
no data
<10
0–100
100–500
500–1000
1000–1500
1500–2000
2000–2500
2500–2750
2750–3000
3000–3250
3250–3500
≥3500

Proposed applications include exterminating insects that carry pathogens (notably mosquitoes that transmit malaria, dengue, and zika pathogens), controlling invasive species, or eliminating herbicide or pesticide resistance.

- Gene drive

Gene drive is a technique for changing wild populations, for instance to combat or eliminate insects so they cannot transmit diseases (in particular mosquitoes in the cases of malaria, zika, dengue and yellow fever).

- Malaria

3 related topics with Alpha

Pesticide application can artificially select for resistant pests. In this diagram, the first generation happens to have an insect with a heightened resistance to a pesticide (red). After pesticide application, its descendants represent a larger proportion of the population, because sensitive pests (white) have been selectively killed. After repeated applications, resistant pests may comprise the majority of the population.

Pesticide resistance

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Previously effective at controlling the pest.

DDT is no longer effective in preventing malaria in some places. Resistance developed slowly in the 1960s due to agricultural use. This pattern was especially noted and synthesized by Mouchet 1988.

Resistance to gene drive forms of population control is expected to occur and methods of slowing its development are being studied.

Mosquito

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Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin culex meaning "gnat").

Image of pitcher plant mosquito Wyeomyia smithii, showing segmentation and partial anatomy of circulatory system

An egg raft of a Culex species, partly broken, showing individual egg shapes

Adult yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti, typical of subfamily Culicinae. Note bushy antennae and longer palps of male on left vs. females at right.

Aedes aegypti, a common vector of dengue fever and yellow fever

$Here an Anopheles stephensi female is engorged with blood and beginning to pass unwanted liquid fractions of the blood to make room in its gut for more of the solid nutrients.$

Female Ochlerotatus notoscriptus feeding on a human arm, Tasmania, Australia

Anopheles albimanus mosquito feeding on a human arm – this mosquito is the sole vector of malaria, and mosquito control is a very effective way of reducing the incidence of malaria.

Mosquitofish Gambusia affinis, a natural mosquito predator

A warning sign about mosquitoes in Sodankylä, Finland

A still from Winsor McCay's pioneering 1912 animated film How a Mosquito Operates

Anopheles larva from southern Germany, about 8 mm long

In this way, mosquitoes are important vectors of parasitic diseases such as malaria and filariasis, and arboviral diseases such as yellow fever, Chikungunya, West Nile, dengue fever, and Zika.

The control of disease-carrying mosquitoes may in the future be possible using gene drives.

A gene gun uses biolistics to insert DNA into plant tissue.

Genetically modified organism

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Any organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques.

Herbert Boyer (pictured) and Stanley Cohen created the first genetically modified organism in 1973.

In 1974, Rudolf Jaenisch created the first genetically modified animal.

This artwork is made with bacteria modified to express 8 different colors of fluorescent proteins.

Tissue culture used to regenerate Arabidopsis thaliana

Wild type peanut (top) and transgenic peanut with Bacillus thuringiensis gene added (bottom) exposed to cornstalk borer larva.

Kenyans examining insect-resistant transgenic Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn

Some chimeras, like the blotched mouse shown, are created through genetic modification techniques like gene targeting.

Mice expressing the green fluorescent protein

Frog expressing Green fluorescent protein

Transgenic Hydra expressing Green fluorescent protein

A label marking this peanut butter as being non-GMO

Detail of a French cheese box declaring "GMO-free" production (i.e., below 0.9%)

A protester advocating for the labeling of GMOs

Another potential approach is to use vectors to create novel vaccines for diseases that have no vaccines available or the vaccines that do not work effectively, such as AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis.

Malaria-resistant mosquitoes have been developed in the laboratory by inserting a gene that reduces the development of the malaria parasite and then use homing endonucleases to rapidly spread that gene throughout the male population (known as a gene drive).