Releasing Genetically Modified Mosquitoes Creates Mutations That May Cause Resistant Vector-Borne Diseases

Releasing genetically modified mosquitoes creates MUTATIONS that may cause RESISTANT vector-borne diseases

Lance D Johnson

The World Mosquito Program, owned by Monash University and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is an experimental operation that allegedly seeks to eradicate mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue, Zika, yellow fever and chikungunya.

The global operation has projects in 14 countries and claims to have protected 11 million people from vector borne diseases over the past decade. These projects include the release of billions of genetically modified mosquitoes.

To start, the mosquito eggs are injected with Wolbachiabacteria. After they are released, they are counted on to mate with the indigenous population of mosquitoes and eradicate the species that spread diseases like dengue, chikungunya, Zika virus and yellow fever.

"We actually grow these mosquitoes that contain the bacteria, Wolbachia, and then release them into communities where the bacteria Wolbachia spreads into the wild mosquito population," said Scott O'Neill, a micro-biologist at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, and director of the World Mosquito Program.

But the program did not account for the emergence of resistant traits in mosquitoes or target pathogens.

There is evidence that transgenic Aedes aegypti mosquitoes transfer genes into a natural population. What pressures does that create on the mosquito population and the pathogens they carry? The influx of Wolbachia bacteria into the mosquito population can put selective pressure on the genomes of the mosquitoes and the viruses that the mosquitoes transmit, encouraging the development of new, resistant pathogenic species and strains. This biological fallout is similar to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria due to the selective pressure of antibiotics on specific traits of pathogens.

The genetically modified mosquitoes do not eradicate the vector-borne diseases with perfection and certainty. Mutations have been documented in genetically engineered lethality systems that were intended to control mosquito populations. In one study, researchers found that a release of mosquitoes carrying a dominant lethal gene causes a toxic over-expression that leads to resistance in certain mosquito populations. In laboratory studies, they found that the disease-carrying A. aegyptimosquitoes resisted and retained 3.5% of their populations. The scientists concurred that this is due “primarily, to inherent “leakiness” in the respective systems due to variable transgenic lethal effector expression or function, though heritable survival due to mutations in genetic components of the system [that] have yet to be reported.”

The researchers also said that there is “potential for the genetic breakdown of lethality systems by rare spontaneous mutations, or selection for inherent suppressors.”

These mutations may cause resistant vector-borne diseases that are even harder to eradicate and/or treat once they infect humans.

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