We live at the confluence of two ages: the first rush of climate change, which is bringing new species and new pathogens to territories they've never been known in; and the nascent age of genetic engineering, which holds out the promise of eliminating these pathogens, and not just in the wealthy territories they've moved into, but throughout the world, including the poor countries where they are deadly scourges.
A favorite target in these crosshairs is the disease-bearing mosquito, whose dengue, malaria, zika and other pathogens are among the world's deadliest killers, and whose range has pushed relentlessly north as the world has warmed.
One possibility is to use CRISPR and gene-drives to directly intervene in the genomes of mosquitoes to kill them off.
But another -- possible less controversial -- tactic is to tweak the pathogens that attack mosquitoes, like Wolbachia bacteria, which can be bred into to male mosquitoes (who don't bite and therefore can be released in large numbers without concern that this will increase the number of everyday stings inflicted on people), and who will transmit the infections to females they mate with, rendering them sterile.
Google sister company Verity and a company called Mosquitomate have teamed up to conduct a trial of this approach in Fresno, where an invasive population of mosquitoes has reached such mass that people can no longer comfortably sit outdoors during mosquito season.
The theory goes that since the mosquitoes are invasive to Fresno, eradicating them will not stress the ecosystem by removing a key organism from the food-web. Read the rest
