Breakthrough in non-GMO malaria control

A just-published study carried out in a high-security lab claims to show that a CRISPR gene drive (a way of forcing a heritable genetic modification through a whole species or population) can crash populations of malaria-spreading mosquitoes. But why crash mosquito populations with a risky experimental technology if you can completely stop them spreading malaria naturally? A naturally occurring biocontrol agent – a microbe – that inhibits the development of the malaria parasite in the mosquito Anopheles arabiensis, which spreads malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa, has recently been reported in the journal Nature Communications. Among the notable features of this approach are: • The microbe doesn’t seem to harm the mosquitoes in any way • Because it doesn’t kill the mosquitoes or cut their numbers, it should not have an impact on ecosystems dependent on them for food • The microbe seems to give the mosquitoes lifelong protection from malaria infection. The researchers are based at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), Kenya, and in the UK. The microbe featured in their recent publication is a microsporidian. Microsporidia are unicellular spore-forming parasites that are now recognised as fungi, or as being related to fungi. All major animal groups harbour them, particularly insects. They spread horizontally, via spores that are ingested by a new host, but many also undergo vertical transmission to the next generation, via infected eggs (known as transovarial transmission).

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