A weapon against
20 SCIENCE NEWS | June 4, 2022COURTESY OF TARGET MALARIAFEATUREScientists in Terni,
Italy, used a gene-editing
technique called a gene
drive to stop mosquitoes
from reproducing in a
laboratory (shown).As gene drives pass new tests, researchers in Africa are getting
public input on whether to unleash them By Tina Hesman Saeymosquitoes
I
n a large laboratory cage, a male mosquito carries
a genetic weapon that could launch the destruc-
tion of his species. That loss could also mean the
end of the parasite that causes malaria.
The weapon, a self-replicating bit of DNA known
as a gene drive, is one of the most anticipated and
controversial tools being developed to stop mosqui-
toes from spreading diseases like malaria to humans.
The gene drive interferes with the insects’ ability
to reproduce. It wiped out captive populations of
mosquitoes in eight to 12 generations (SN: 10/27/18,
p. 6) in a small lab study. In 2021, the technology
worked in the large cages, in Terni, Italy, too. Within
as little as five to 10 years, this gene drive could be
ready to test in the wild.
The first experimental release could be rolled out
in Burkina Faso, Mali, Ghana or Uganda. In thoselocations, researchers are working with a non-
profit research consortium called Target Malaria
to develop the gene drive carriers along with other
genetically engineered mosquitoes to fight malaria.
This research is driven by the idea that every
tool available must be used to fight malaria, which
sickened close to 241 million people in 2020 and
killed 670,000 worldwide, mostly in Africa. Children
5 years old and younger accounted for about
80 percent of the continent’s malaria deaths, the
World Health Organization says.
Because of malaria’s huge toll, large investments
have been made to fight the disease, yielding pre-
ventive drugs, insecticide-treated bed nets and even
malaria vaccines — one was recently recommended
for use in sub-Saharan Africa (SN: 12/18/21 & 1/1/22,
p. 32). These efforts are helping. But mosquitoes