Fungus modified with spider venom offers new hope in fight against malaria
CNNCNN — Researchers have developed a new weapon in the fight against malaria – a fungus genetically engineered using a gene found in the venom of an Australian spider. Trials in Burkina Faso – a country with a high prevalence of malaria – found that a fungus, enhanced by the gene of the Australian Blue Mountains funnel web spider, killed large numbers of malaria-carrying mosquitoes. Researchers from the University of Maryland and the Research Institute of Health Sciences in Burkina Faso genetically modified Metarhizium pingshaense, a fungus that is naturally fatal to mosquitoes, to increase its lethality. Brian Lovett, an author of the study, published in the journal Science, told CNN: “Using this technology and applying it in the way that we are proposing, which is to target the mosquitoes that come into peoples houses, we would expect it to have a really large impact on mosquito populations, and to impact on disease transmission as a result.” Malaria is a parasitic disease transmitted through the bite of female Anopheles mosquitoes.
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