The future of the fight against malaria may be looking a bit brighter. A new gene-editing technology has been developed to create a mosquito population capable of blocking the transmission of malaria. Scientists at the University of California, San Diego, have developed a new gene-editing technique that could reduce the spread of malaria by introducing a gene that would make the mosquitoes less friendly to the parasite that causes the disease. The technique, called CRISPR/Cas9, works by introducing a gene into the mosquito genome that makes the mosquito less likely to be infected by the malaria-causing parasite. If successful, this could be a major breakthrough in the fight against malaria, as it would allow for the development of a mosquito population that would be less likely to spread the disease. The team hopes to use this technique to help reduce the transmission of malaria in areas where the disease is most prevalent.

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source: Phys.org