|
|
Should've Called it "Kick Mosquito Here" Gene
New Scientist today linked up a rather novel technique for sexing mosquitos:
A genetically engineered mosquito with glowing gonads could become a new weapon in the battle against malaria.Researchers at Imperial College London created the mosquito by attaching a gene for fluorescence found in jellyfish to a gene expressed only in a male mosquito’s sexual organs. The technique makes it relatively simple to distinguish males from females, something that has previously hindered malaria-eradication strategies.
Anything that makes it easier to eradicate those blood sucking monsters is fine by me.
Well, actually, yes, I did grow up in the middle of acres of rice fields. Why do you ask?
1 - don't mosquitoes serve a niche in the environment? Yes, I know they spread malaria and potentially other diseases, but they have their place. We've shot ourselves in the foot a few times trying to play Mother Nature and eliminate species - what makes me think eradicating them will be a good thing?
2 - inserting genes, while damn useful for research and potentially wonderful for curing certain diseases, might not be the best thing to do with an animal that has as short of a life-cycle and as prolific of a breeding cycle as mosquitoes do. Seems to me that it might be asking for trouble. We start to eliminate mosquitoes and end up creating Mothra, Tokyo gets trashed (which is bad b/c Azrael is damned amusing), Godzilla comes around and goes on another rampage, and you end up with a rebuilt megalopolis in Tokyo's place and then the Knight Sabers come to the rescue of the common man. All of these things are Very Bad Things (well, except for the Knight Sabers...).
Posted by: ronaprhys on October 10, 2005 01:06 PM