{"id":17045,"date":"2023-09-11T09:41:48","date_gmt":"2023-09-11T09:41:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/current_affairs\/?p=17045"},"modified":"2023-09-13T09:43:57","modified_gmt":"2023-09-13T09:43:57","slug":"gene-drive-technology-to-control-mosquitoes-11-09-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/11-09-2023\/gene-drive-technology-to-control-mosquitoes-11-09-2023","title":{"rendered":"Gene Drive Technology to Control Mosquitoes &#8211; 11-09-2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/Developments in Science And Technology<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">In News<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>With insecticide resistance in mosquitoes rising to alarming proportions, it has become imperative that newer approaches should be developed to control them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">About<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The earliest known mosquitoes from the fossil record date back at least 70 million years, and evidence of mosquito-borne diseases like malaria dates back to Egyptian mummies from 2000 BC.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Apart from <strong>malaria<\/strong>, which claims the lives of over half a million people every year, mosquitoes serve as vectors for various other diseases- <strong>dengue, Zika, lymphatic filariasis, and yellow fever.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Recent Trends<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The <strong>rapid<\/strong> <strong>urbanisation<\/strong> of the world\u2019s populations, especially in many large and economically developing countries like India, has led to <strong>annual surges in mosquito-borne illnesses like dengue.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Together with <strong>climate change<\/strong> and its cascading consequences, <strong>mosquito-borne diseases <\/strong>have expanded into new territories. A notable example is the <strong>indigenous cases of dengue in France <\/strong>in recent years.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Hence, mosquito control has taken centre stage today and the battle continues unrelentingly with an array of tools \u2013 from mosquito nets to insecticides and the use of symbionts like <strong>Wolbachia<\/strong>.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Further, <strong>the ability to read or sequence the genomes<\/strong> of organisms, and edit and manipulate these genomes, has given us new tools in this fight. Researchers have helped prepare <strong>high-quality reference genomes<\/strong> for <strong><em>Anopheles stephensi,<\/em><\/strong><strong> a major malaria-vector mosquito.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">The Gene Drive Technology<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/-teCSJIJEdm2bNg4sgSattdB7OnNW1PIuSjf5l6tlcoDuB1p_DgmNU5qTllZacsbnRPG_mjHfQ0CPFyieFLg1LZrkDelrLMFDm3nhLVT1R70xPmrvDTX3A_-j9LW7ONDC8GehPkdD7QmVxX6-a8w3sw\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The fundamental idea <\/strong>behind genetic manipulation of mosquitoes is to systematically control their populations <strong>by interfering with their reproduction. <\/strong>The end result for mosquitoes is <strong>to selectively inherit some genes, <\/strong>rather than the whole inheritance.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This technology was conceived by <strong>Austin Burt, <\/strong>professor at Imperial College London, in 2003.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Here, a protein cuts the mosquito\u2019s DNA at a part that doesn\u2019t encode a particular sequence in the genome. This triggers a natural mechanism in the cell containing the DNA to repair it and forces the cell to incorporate a sequence, called the drive sequence, into the damaged portion.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It focuses on <strong>reducing mosquito populations\u2019 reproductive capabilities or rendering them sterile. <\/strong>As a result, the malaria parasite won\u2019t be able to replicate inside the mosquito\u2019s gut.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Risks Associated<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>An immediate implication is that the <strong>drastic reduction in the mosquito population could alter food chains and ecosystems <\/strong>that involve mosquitoes. So it\u2019s likely that <strong>the gap in the food chain could be \u2018invaded\u2019 by other mosquitoes or in fact other insects<\/strong>.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Critics have expressed concerns about <strong>unintended consequence<\/strong>s, such as <strong>unforeseen ecological disruptions or the potential for engineered genes<\/strong> to spread beyond target mosquito populations.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Since the consequences will be shared by individuals, communities, and populations, in that order, what constitutes a right decision and what processes are to be followed remains a dilemma to policymakers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Way Ahead<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Some of the concerns associated with the gene drive are valid and require <strong>extensive data collection, close monitoring, and multistakeholder discussions <\/strong>surrounding the adoption of this technology.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Closer home, on the regulatory front, the <strong>Department of Biotechnology in India released comprehensive guidelines for genetically engineered insects<\/strong>. They provide a roadmap for researchers, outlining procedures and regulations for working with such insects in the country.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/epaper.thehindu.com\/ccidist-ws\/th\/th_delhi\/issues\/51357\/OPS\/GTOBO1DPC.1+G4RBO1JRK.1.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Syllabus: GS3\/Developments in Science And Technology&nbsp; In News About Recent Trends The Gene Drive Technology Risks Associated Way Ahead Source: TH<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17045"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17045\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17048,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17045\/revisions\/17048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}