A groundbreaking genetic tweak could prevent mosquitoes from transmitting malaria, a disease that kills 600,000 people annually. Researchers have discovered a way to interrupt the critical journey of the Plasmodium parasite within the mosquito’s body, effectively rendering laboratory mosquitoes highly resistant to spreading malaria.
To achieve this, scientists used gene editing technology to make a tiny tweak in the mosquito’s genome, changing just one amino acid. This alteration largely prevented parasites from reaching their final destination in the salivary glands, where they would be injected into the mosquito’s next victim via a bite.
The researchers employed CRISPR gene editing technology and created two nearly identical groups of mosquitoes: one with the normal FREP1 gene and another with the variant that contained just this single amino acid change. The results showed that mosquitoes with the edited variant had significantly fewer infective parasites in both the salivary glands and gut.
While this genetic tweak is promising, its implications are still being discussed. Gene drive technology, which can spread specific mutations to a population of mosquitoes, has sparked controversy due to concerns about its unpredictable negative consequences. Researchers are exploring different strategies to engineer mosquitoes with new genes that would make proteins that mess with the parasite, potentially curbing transmission without harming the bugs.
The next steps involve releasing engineered mosquitoes into the wild, where they will spread on their own and gradually transform the malaria-transmitting mosquito population. However, this process is expected to take several years and require buy-in and approval from local communities and governments.
This breakthrough highlights the need for new genetic tools to combat malaria, a disease that has proven difficult to eliminate with existing methods like bed nets and antimalarial drugs.
Source: https://www.npr.org/sections/goats-and-soda/2025/07/23/g-s1-78741/a-genetic-tweak-could-prevent-mosquitoes-from-transmitting-malaria