Image: Plasmodium (malaria parasite) infecting blood cells
The parasite responsible of causing malaria and the mosquito vector that spreads the disease change as a result of their evolutionary process, developing new ways to evade treatments. In response, scientists has proposed a strategy for controlling transmission by modifying mosquitoes, making them to reject parasite development, and therefore, incapable of spreading infection.
Fidel de la Cruz Hernandez, researcher at the Department of Infectomics and Molecular Pathogenesis at Research Center and Advanced Studies (CINVESTAV), is one of the Mexican experts who are working in this project. He studied a gene known as Croquemort from the mosquito Anopheles.
This gene was first discovered in Drosophila, a genus of small flies, belonging to the family Drosophilidae, whose members are often called ‘fruit flies’. Its name, comes from the French word ‘croque-mort’ which means gravedigger, because it is implicated in the clearance of cell corpses and dead microorganisms. Based on this, it was expected that this gene would cause malaria resistance in the mosquito.
The group led by Fidel de la Cruz Hernandez and Monica Gonzalez and Lazaro, in collaboration with scientists from the University of Baltimore (Maryland, USA), suppressed the expression of that gene to test the theory that this would cause higher reproduction of Plasmodium, malaria causing parasite. Surprisingly, the effect resulted the opposite, when the gene was turned off, the reproduction of plasmodium was also inhibited.
Apparently, said De la Cruz Hernandez, the parasite follows a strategy similar to the virus that causes AIDS, as it uses the immune system of the mosquito to breed.
The most effective measures to fight malaria are aimed at decreasing the density of mosquitoes’ population. In recent years new strategies have been proposed based on molecular biology applications.
De la Cruz Hernandez explained that this technology is already available in countries like England, where the company Oxitec patented a variety of genetically modified mosquitoes in which females cannot soar, which is indispensable for mating.
CINVESTAV’s researcher believes that this could be an option to combat not only the Anopheles mosquito, but many other pathogen insects. “This same technology could be used to combat agricultural pests, such as the Mexican fruit fly or the spittlebug”.
The scientist said that thanks to sanitary measures, malaria remains controlled in the country, despite having all geographical conditions for transmission, especially in the states of Yucatan, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Puebla and Tamaulipas.
Source: Agencia ID
