Mosquitoes bred with suicide genes to combat disease - Polidicks

[img]http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/midas/70d6c431d35986d7c810ea72854a0507/200075397/Aedes_aegypti_lead.jpg[/img] [QUOTE] With the World Cup just six weeks away, Brazilian authorities have approved the widespread, commercial release of a strain of mosquito that has been genetically reprogrammed to wipe out its own species. These Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are a major carrier of dengue fever, and bed nets are useless against them because they bite during the day. While some have experimented with using lasers and other techniques to mass-kill the disease-carrying bugs, Brazil's preferred solution begins in the lab: Male mosquitoes are given a deliberately flawed gene and then released into the wild so that they can reproduce, at which point the implanted gene rears its head and causes any offspring to die before they reach sexual maturity. [/QUOTE] [url]http://www.engadget.com/2014/04/28/brazil-breeds-mosquito-with-suicide-gene-against-dengue-fever/?ncid=rss_truncated&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=fb&utm_medium=fb[/url] And do the same for wasps please

[QUOTE=shian;44666411] And do the same for wasps please[/QUOTE] Na man wasps are pest control.

Why not do that with mosquitoes before? Those fuckers are even more useless than wasps, unless you find hearing BZZZZZ at night and getting your blood sucked a good thing. At least wasps kill other stuff and don't bite you if you leave them alone.

I hate mosquitoes with every fiber in mine and everyone else's body, so i aproove this.

I might be horribly wrong, but couldn't this be dangerous in the sense of affecting the food chain and whatnot? Just curious

I dont care if they sting me, I just dont want to hear their bzzz in my ear when i'm trying to sleep, that sound alone can make me stay up all night

So baiscally we made a "genophage" but for mosquitoes.

[QUOTE=shingda;44666444]I might be horribly wrong, but couldn't this be dangerous in the sense of affecting the food chain and whatnot? Just curious[/QUOTE] Nope, there are also a bunch of other species of mosquitos that are harmless to humans, and can replace those ones that spread diseases and are annoying. (wikipedia) [quote]Some biologists have proposed the deliberate extinction of certain mosquito species. Biologist Olivia Judson has advocated "specicide" of thirty mosquito species by introducing a genetic element which can insert itself into another crucial gene, to create recessive "knockout genes".[29] She says that the Anopheles mosquitoes (which spread malaria) and Aedes mosquitoes (which spread dengue fever, yellow fever, elephantiasis, and other diseases) represent only 30 out of some 3,500 mosquito species; eradicating these would save at least one million human lives per annum, at a cost of reducing the genetic diversity of the family Culicidae by only 1%. She further argues that since species become extinct "all the time" the disappearance of a few more will not destroy the ecosystem: "We're not left with a wasteland every time a species vanishes. Removing one species sometimes causes shifts in the populations of other species — but different need not mean worse." In addition, anti-malarial and mosquito control programs offer little realistic hope to the 300 million people in developing nations who will be infected with acute illnesses this year. Although trials are ongoing, she writes that if they fail: "We should consider the ultimate swatting."[29][/quote]

If the offspring dies before they reach sexual maturity then how is this gene supposed to spread?

do this with cockroaches please

Good riddance. Mosquitoes are dicks, only second to wasps.

[QUOTE=Orkel;44666482]If the offspring dies before they reach sexual maturity then how is this gene supposed to spread?[/QUOTE] DOH

Great, but I'm worried that a mistake will be made or that changed genome will affect something and suddenly mosquitoes will be two feet long and will be able to eat through concrete

[QUOTE=Orkel;44666482]If the offspring dies before they reach sexual maturity then how is this gene supposed to spread?[/QUOTE] They breed them in a lab and then keep releasing them into the wild.

[QUOTE=Orkel;44666482]If the offspring dies before they reach sexual maturity then how is this gene supposed to spread?[/QUOTE] shit

[QUOTE=Orkel;44666482]If the offspring dies before they reach sexual maturity then how is this gene supposed to spread?[/QUOTE] i'm assuming so that there's no chance of accidentally destroying the species completely this way they can control how much damage they do

MosQUIToes indeed.

Wasn't there a study that said mosquitoes are a completely useless insect and that completely eradicating them would have 0 negative effect on the world as a whole?

[QUOTE=Orkel;44666482]If the offspring dies before they reach sexual maturity then how is this gene supposed to spread?[/QUOTE] They breed with normal mozzies, and their kids together die. Since the normal mozzies keep breeding with the infected ones, less uninfected bugs live, and eventually they all die, I presume.

Yeah, but what if the mosquitos start biting people and the suicide genes go into them and they all start killing themselves? And what if I'm actually M. Night Shyamalan? (In all seriousness, this is pretty cool.)

[QUOTE=Orkel;44666482]If the offspring dies before they reach sexual maturity then how is this gene supposed to spread?[/QUOTE] The gene is recessive. This means that the gene can only express itself when it receives the gene from both parents. HH = Healthy mosquito HG / GH = Mosquito with the flawed gene it received from one parent. The recessive gene doesn't express itself GG = mosquito with the flawed gene received from both parents. Mosquito = ded If a mosquito with the flawed gene mates with a healthy mosquito, that means: HH = 100% chance to give healthy gene HG = 50% chance to give healthy gene, 50% chance to give faulty gene that doesn't express itself 50% of the offspring are healthy, and 50% become offspring that carry the gene but are not otherwise affected If two mosquitos with the flawed gene mate with eachother, it means: HG = 50% chance to give healthy gene, 50% chance to give faulty gene that doesn't express itself HG = 50% chance to give healthy gene, 50% chance to give faulty gene that doesn't express itself HH = 25% chance (a quarter of the offspring are healthy) HG = 25% chance GH = 25% chance (50% of the offspring become carriers) GG = 25% chance (a quarter of the offspring is ded) At least, I think that's how it works. It's just basic biology.

Every species is an important part in the ecosystem and can have consequences if wiped out entirely.

As someone who lives next to a river, I hope this gets out of hand and kills off each and every mosquito on planet earth.

Mosquito AIDS, I like it.

Radiolab did a short segment on this that explains it pretty well: [url]http://www.radiolab.org/story/kill-em-all/[/url]

This might probably be just a short term fix, due to some Mosquitos either being born without this gene or immunity to the effects, then breed with other genetically immune Mosquitos. Simple stuff. Happens to everything that is a pest and attempted to be exterminated. They just evolve against it, and with how quick the mosquito life cycle is, I don't see this lasting too long.

I remember reading about the early development of this years ago in National Geographic. Glad it's coming to fruition.

[QUOTE=Tasm;44667198]This might probably be just a short term fix, due to some Mosquitos either being born without this gene or immunity to the effects, then breed with other genetically immune Mosquitos. Simple stuff. Happens to everything that is a pest and attempted to be exterminated. They just evolve against it, and with how quick the mosquito life cycle is, I don't see this lasting too long.[/QUOTE] Thats pretty unlikely since this is not some sort of outside poison. This approach was designed to specifically get around that evolutional immunity since mosquitos have such a short lifespan and lay about 400 eggs each. Theres no way a mosquito that has the active gene can develop immunity since the gene causes it to overdose on protein production (I think) Brazil has already actually used it in a village with it killing 95% of mosquitos the first gen with the next gen not coming back with immunities and exploding the population back (seriously listen to the radiolab story its great)

[QUOTE=shingda;44666444]I might be horribly wrong, but couldn't this be dangerous in the sense of affecting the food chain and whatnot? Just curious[/QUOTE] No, actually. Mosquitos contribute almost nothing to the food chain, and even the complete extinction of all species of them would do little to harm the environment except the side effects of the methods used.

[quote]While some have experimented with using [B]lasers [/B]and other techniques to mass-kill the disease-carrying bugs[/quote] that sounds super radical