genetically modified mosquitoes malaysia
TRANSCRIPT
SCHOOL OF ALLIED HEALTH SCIENCES
DIPLOMA IN ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
Name : Aiman Syahmi B. Salim
Student ID : SCM020300
Lecturer : Mrs. Nurul Ashikin
Mosquitoes with newly expressed characteristics.
New characters - as a result of manipulation of DNA
Changes – passed on the next generation
In 1937, by entomologist, Edward F. Knipling
Started with sterilization of screw wormflies of Screw
worm flies, a serious pest of livestock.
Begins with mosquito eggs.
inject very small amounts of DNA into the end of a mosquito egg.
The new DNA will be taken up by the mosquito’s cells and will be cut and pasted into the mosquito’s own genome.
Developed by Malaysia's Institute for Medical Research (IMR).
In collaboration with the UK-based biotech company OXITEC.
Called by a name OX513A
total of 4,000–6,000 male GM Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes
released in Bentong, Pahang and Alor Gajah, Malacca.
along with a similar number of unmodified male mosquitoes.
The released sterile males compete with their wild
male counterparts for available wild female mating
partners.
Matings between OX513A sterile males and fertile wild
females produce no viable offspring.
Successive releases quickly cause a crash in the
population level.
if the gene persists in the population, then no further
interventions would be needed, and diseases could be
driven toward eradication.
Benefit public health.
Provide new forms of economically useful insects.
Might have unforeseen consequences, such as the inadvertent creation of uncontrollable mutated mosquitoes.
Ecosystem then filled by another insect species, potentially introducing new diseases.
There is no absolute guarantee that only male GM mosquitoes will be released which means here could be mechanical or human error. Since it is the female mosquitoes that bite humans and may transmit disease, this is a concern.
If the GM Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are reduced in number in the long-term, there may be an increase in another mosquito species, Aedes albopictus, which also transmits dengue as well as chikungunya in Malaysia.
AEDES AEGYPTI
AEDES ALBOPICTUS