[net-gold] MEDICAL: DISEASES: MALARIA : MEDICAL: RESEARCH: Genetically Modified Fungi Kill Malaria-Causing Parasites in Mosquitoes
- From: "David P. Dillard" <jwne@xxxxxxxxxx>
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- Date: Sun, 24 Apr 2011 13:17:31 -0400 (EDT)
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MEDICAL: DISEASES: MALARIA :
MEDICAL: RESEARCH:
Genetically Modified Fungi Kill Malaria-Causing Parasites in Mosquitoes
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Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2011 16:27:42 -0500
From: "NIH OLIB (NIH/OD)" <olib@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: NIHPRESS@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Genetically Modified Fungi
Kill Malaria-Causing Parasites in Mosquitoes
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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH NIH News
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National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
(NIAID)
http://www.niaid.nih.gov/
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For Immediate Release: Friday, February 25, 2011
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CONTACT:
Nalini Padmanabhan
301-402-1663
e-mail:
padmanabhannm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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GENETICALLY MODIFIED FUNGI KILL MALARIA-CAUSING PARASITES IN MOSQUITOES
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NIH-funded study finds way to reduce transmission of malaria to humans
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Spraying malaria-transmitting mosquitoes with a genetically modified
fungus can kill the malaria parasite without harming the mosquito,
potentially reducing malaria transmission to humans, according to a new
study published in the journal Science. Funded by the National Institute
of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National
Institutes of Health, the study was led by Raymond J. St. Leger, Ph.D., of
the University of Maryland, College Park.
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An estimated 225 million malaria cases occur worldwide annually, resulting
in about 781,000 deaths each year, according to the World Health
Organization. Although the disease is present in 106 countries around the
world, most cases occur in sub-Saharan Africa. Treating bed nets and
indoor walls with insecticides is the main prevention strategy in
developing countries, but the Anopheles mosquitoes that transmit malaria
are slowly becoming resistant to these insecticides, rendering them less
effective.
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"Because mosquitoes increasingly are evolving to evade the malaria control
methods currently in use, NIAID-supported scientists are testing new,
innovative ways to prevent malaria that we hope can be developed into
tools that will be effective for years to come," says NIAID Director
Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.
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One of these new strategies is killing Anopheles mosquitoes by spraying
them with the naturally occurring fungus, Metarhizium anisopliae. Previous
studies have found that this method nearly eliminates disease transmission
when mosquitoes are sprayed soon after acquiring the malaria parasite.
However, this strategy is not sustainable in the long term. If treating
mosquitoes with the fungus kills them before they have a chance to
reproduce and pass on their susceptibility to the spray, mosquitoes
resistant to the fungus, which would reproduce normally, will soon become
predominant and the spray will no longer be effective.
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Because of this, Dr. St. Leger and colleagues tried a more focused
approach. Rather than developing fungi that rapidly kill the mosquito,
they genetically modified M. anisopliae to block the development of the
malaria parasite in the mosquito.
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Eleven days after feeding on blood infected by the malaria parasite,
mosquitoes were divided into three groups and either sprayed with
naturally occurring M. anisopliae fungi, sprayed with genetically modified
M. anisopliae fungi or not sprayed at all. Two weeks after exposing the
mosquitoes to the malaria parasite, the researchers looked for the
parasite on the salivary glands of mosquitoes in each of the three groups.
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Compared with the other treatments, the modified M. anisopliae
significantly reduced parasite development. The malaria parasite was found
on the salivary glands of just 25 percent of the mosquitoes sprayed with
the transgenic fungi, compared with 87 percent of those sprayed with the
naturally occurring strain and 94 percent of unsprayed mosquitoes. The
transgenic strain also reduced the density of parasites on the mosquitoes'
salivary glands by more than 95 percent compared with the unmodified
strain.
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"The genes added to the transgenic fungi prevent the parasite from binding
to the salivary glands of mosquitoes, so when a mosquito bites a human,
the parasite is not transmitted," explains Adriana Costero-Saint Denis,
Ph.D., of NIAID's Vector Biology Program
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http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/vector/Pages/Default.aspx
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The researchers then used a model to estimate how well each fungus strain
would reduce malaria transmission, and found that compared with the
wild-type strain, the transgenic strain could reduce transmission to
humans by fivefold, if not more.
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"Our principal aim now is to get this technology into the field," says Dr.
St. Leger. "We also would like to test some additional fungal variants to
make sure we have the optimized malaria-blocking pathogen," he adds.
Although they do not expect this technology to affect the environment any
differently than the wild-type strain, the study authors plan to test ways
to contain the transgenic fungi in the field.
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For more information, see the NIAID Malaria Web portal
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http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/malaria/Pages/default.aspx
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NIAID conducts and supports research-at NIH, throughout the United States,
and worldwide to study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated
diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and
treating these illnesses. News releases, fact sheets and other
NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID Web site at
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http://www.niaid.nih.gov
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The National Institutes of Health (NIH)-The Nation's Medical Research
Agency-includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U. S.
Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency
for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical
research, and it investigates the causes, treatments and cures for both
common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs,
visit
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http://www.nih.gov
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REFERENCE:
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W Fang et al.
Development of transgenic fungi that kill human malaria
parasites in mosquitoes
Science
DOI: 10.1126/science.1199115
(2011)
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##
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This NIH News Release is available online at:
http://www.nih.gov/news/health/feb2011/niaid-25.htm
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Sincerely,
David Dillard
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
jwne@xxxxxxxxxx
http://daviddillard.businesscard2.com
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