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      Transgenic anopheline mosquitoes impaired in transmission of a malaria parasite.

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          Abstract

          Malaria is estimated to cause 0.7 to 2.7 million deaths per year, but the actual figures could be substantially higher owing to under-reporting and difficulties in diagnosis. If no new control measures are developed, the malaria death toll is projected to double in the next 20 years. Efforts to control the disease are hampered by drug resistance in the Plasmodium parasites, insecticide resistance in mosquitoes, and the lack of an effective vaccine. Because mosquitoes are obligatory vectors for malaria transmission, the spread of malaria could be curtailed by rendering them incapable of transmitting parasites. Many of the tools required for the genetic manipulation of mosquito competence for malaria transmission have been developed. Foreign genes can now be introduced into the germ line of both culicine and anopheline mosquitoes, and these transgenes can be expressed in a tissue-specific manner. Here we report on the use of such tools to generate transgenic mosquitoes that express antiparasitic genes in their midgut epithelium, thus rendering them inefficient vectors for the disease. These findings have significant implications for the development of new strategies for malaria control.

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          Author and article information

          Journal
          Nature
          Nature
          Springer Science and Business Media LLC
          0028-0836
          0028-0836
          May 23 2002
          : 417
          : 6887
          Affiliations
          [1 ] Case Western Reserve University, Department of Genetics, 10900 Euclid Avenue, Ohio 44106-4955, USA.
          Article
          417452a
          10.1038/417452a
          12024215
          65df571c-e71c-4e26-9ea6-53478283b5e3
          History

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