On Wed, 17 Jul 1996, Dennis Paulson wrote:

>
> They didn't say how this gene would spread in the population, did they? If
> it didn't convey a selective advantage to the mosquito, there wouldn't be a
> whole lot of offspring to spread the gene. I suppose they could link it to
> a gene that glowed in the dark, so we could look for these rare, glowing
> mosquitos to which to present our tasty flesh. But still, with no
> advantage, the gene would probably disappear in a few generations. And of
> course you wouldn't want the mosquito to get something fatal from you--that
> would really get rid of the gene fast!
>
> Or was this article proboscis in cheek?
>
Dennis--

I went back through the recycle stuff and dug it out..

************************************************************************
Mosquitoes
Will be flying
Syringes

Parasite gene: Two British scientists want to use the bug
to vaccinate people against malaria and other diseases.

LONDON (AP) - Two British scientists are aiming to use genetically
engineered mosquitoes as flying syringes to try and vaccinate people
against malaria and other diseases.

Professor Bob Sinden of the University of London's Imperial
College and Professor Julian Crampton of Liverpool University's
School fo Tropical Medicine say they have taken a key step in
the process but have a long way to go.

The scientists received a patent last year, but their technique
is only being publicized now after a report by Derwent, a
scientific information company.

"The key thing that we're doing is using the mosquito as the
syringe," Sinden said.

What the scientists are trying to do is take bits of the
parasite that causes malaria and put it into the body so the body
builds its own immunity.

Malaria is transmitted to humans by the bite of an infected
mosquito. The scientists' idea is to use the genetically
engineered mosquitoes to vaccinate the people they bite by
transferring a protein through its saliva.

The trick is to modify the insect's salivary gland by introducing
a parasite gene that produces an antigen known to stimulate
the body to resist malaria parasites, Sinden said.

Crampton's team of researchers introduced the gene into the
isolated salivary glands from the mosquito, he said.

Next, scientists have to carry out the experiment in a live
mosquito instead of in a test tube, Sinden said, "and this
is a huge step."

"The big problem that we've got is that the technology for
introducing genes into whole mosquitoes is only just emerging
and until that step is completed. we are still talking of a
theory," he said.


The Olympian
Wednesday July 10, 1996