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Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes that Resist Dengue Fever Virus!

dengue mosquitoWe can now dare to dream a complete irradiation of dengue fever – as researchers have successfully created a genetically engineered mosquito that shows a high level of resistance against this most prevalent type of dengue fever virus. It is a powerful weapon against a disease that infects 50 million people each year!

Anthony James, a UC Irvine vector biologist, one of a team of researchers who injected DNA into mosquito embryos, creating the first stable transgenic mosquito resistant to Type 2 dengue fever virus said,
‘These results are very exciting because they provide us a genetic tool we can use to control mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue fever… We have been working for some time on the individual components of creating a genetically modified mosquito that would fend off dengue infection, but this is the first time we have brought all the pieces together to create a stable model that can also reproduce.’

The results of this ground-breaking success were published this week in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Via: Science Daily

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