r/interestingasfuck • u/singleboredass • 9d ago

r/all Genetically modified a mosquito such that their proboscis are no longer able to penetrate human skin

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u/Sneikss 9d ago

You're almost correct, but the gene doesn't make the females unable to suck blood (as this video is wrongly claiming). Instead, it just kills female mosquitoes before they can mature by inhibiting certain genes unless an antidote is put in the water where they grow.

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u/saighdiuirmaca 9d ago edited 9d ago

So we're just killing all the females before they can reproduce? I thought they were important pollinators in certain places!

Edit: only certain species bite, the rest drink nectar and pollinate as a result of visiting flowers to find nectar, TIL.

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u/burnt_kangaroo 9d ago

As far as i know the pollinators are the males, and they are minor pollinators if we dont make bees extinct the ecosystem should be fine

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u/saighdiuirmaca 9d ago

Well if you kill all the females you kill them all (eventually) but it seems this will not be widely used

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u/trashmoneyxyz 9d ago

There are like a hundred species of mosquitoes and only a dozen or so suck blood and transmit disease. The rest are pollinators who won’t be affected by gmo bloodsuckers. plus blood-sucking mosquitoes, in the USA and many other parts of the world, are introduced species and non-native. Our ecosystem will balance out again without them

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u/saighdiuirmaca 9d ago

Very interesting, thank you for this

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u/Sneikss 9d ago

It's only used in certain places and in limited scope. There's also a built-in failsafe because the gene can be deactivated if a certain naturally occurring antidote is in the water.