LONDON, April 20 (UPI) -- U.K. and U.S. researchers say they've taken an important step in developing gene-based control measures for mosquitoes that transmit malaria.
Scientists at Imperial College London and the University of Washington have shown how genetic changes can be introduced into large laboratory mosquito populations over the span of just a few generations by just a small number of modified mosquitoes, a release issued by the college Wednesday said.
The technique could be used to introduce a genetic change into a mosquito population and prevent it from transmitting the deadly malaria parasite, Plasmodium, to humans, the researchers said.
Scientists at Imperial were the first to genetically modify a mosquito species in early 2000, and research by other scientists has shown such modifications could be used to evolve populations of mosquitoes less able to transmit the malaria parasite.
Researchers say their modification targets are genes required by the mosquito for its reproduction or for malaria transmission.
Malaria is a debilitating disease that affects more than 300 million people every year and kills nearly 800,000 annually.
