Aedes albopictus
Aedes albopictus, the Asian Tiger mosquito, can carry diseases including dengue and chikungunya. Compared to its genetic relative A. aegypti, this mosquito is typically less likely to house a virus. And because of that, advances in genetic engineering of these insects have been slow.
But A. albopictus is hardier than A. aegypti, and travels further distances from the equator. In the past 30 years, researchers have watched them move throughout South East Asia to Northern Asia to Europe to the United States. Combined with the fact that certain mutations of the chikungunya virus are now carried by A. albopictus, finding a suitable eradication strategy is crucial.
A team of collaborators from the GM insect technology company Oxitec, Imperial College, and the University of Oxford took the first steps forward, showing they could stably deliver a transgene to A. albopictus embryos, the first genetic modification ever to be done on Asian Tiger mosquitoes.
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