CRISPR Technology to Control Growth of Mosquitoes
CRISPR Technology – Taking advantage of recent advances in Crisper-based genetic engineering, researchers have created a system that stops the mosquito population that infects millions of people each year with debilitating diseases.
Precision-guided sterile insect technique (pgSIT) is used to modify reproductive genes in male mosquitoes to produce sterile offspring.
In addition, the technique also alters the flight-associated gene in the female Aedes aegypti, which is the cause of diseases such as dengue, chikungunya and Zika.
Key Points:
- Precision-guided sterile insect technology (pgSIT) uses CRISPR technology to neuter male mosquitoes and flightless female mosquitoes. This system is self-controlled, and neither expands nor stays in the atmosphere. As such, this feature equipped with both these protections can be said to be the most accurate and popular for the use of this technology.
- Scientists say that the eggs of PGSIT can be sent to a site prone to mosquito-borne disease or developed at a site that can produce eggs for nearby deployment. Once pgSIT eggs are released into the wild, sterile pgSIT males will arise and eventually mate with females, thus easily controlling the mosquito population.
CRISPR Technology
- CRISPR technology is an easy but very important technique to modify the genome. Through this the genome of any organism can be changed. By changing the genome, many traits can be changed in organisms according to their mind.
- Through this, the intelligence, strength of the organism can be increased, and the living beings can be saved from many diseases. With the use of this technology, many crops can be further improved and their yield can be increased.
- In fact, CRISPR is a special segment found in DNA, whereas Cas9 is an enzyme. This enzyme is like a scissor with which it can be done in DNA.
Other applications of Gene Editing
- With gene editing already widely used in scientific research, CRISPR-Cas9 has also been seen as a promising approach for potential genome editing treatments for diseases such as HIV, cancer or sickle cell disease.
- In agriculture, this technology can produce plants that will not only be effective in high yields (such as Lippmann’s tomatoes), but can also make various changes to crops to protect them from drought and pests, thereby protecting crops from damage in years to come.
- In the world’s first gene-editing trial in California, HIV immune cells were removed from the blood of nearly 80 patients with HIV using a different technique called zinc-fiber nuclease (ZFN). Researchers in China edited a human embryo to try to correct a faulty gene that causes a blood disorder.
- In the medical field, gene editing can be used to treat potential genetic diseases such as heart disease and some types of cancer, or a rare disorder that can cause vision loss or blindness.
Source – Indian Express
