English, C. (2018, October 17). Synthetic biology mosquitoes: Pioneering solution emerges to counter fears over using genetic engineering to control Zika. Retrieved from https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2018/10/17/synthetic-biology-mosquitoes-pioneering-solution-emerges-to-counter-fears-over-using-genetic-engineering-to-control-zika/

The biotechnology company Oxitech is working on a project that would introduce genetically engineered mosquitoes into the wild, in an effort to reduce the prevalence of mosquitoes carrying the zika virus. The zika virus can cause nervous damage and birth defects. The mosquitoes carry a gene with them that, when passed on to its offspring, will either kill the offspring or make it sterile. By having these modified mosquitoes breed with their wild counterparts that carry the zika virus, the mosquito population would be effectively controlled. However, this project has faced public backlash as the public is worried about “gene flow”: the spread of certain genes into a wild population. A team at the University of Minnesota is working to solve this issue and has “met with the managers of mosquito control districts in California, Florida and other parts of the southern US, and they’re hungry for this kind of technology.”

Even though I’m not entirely knowledgeable about the prevalence of the zika virus in California, these genetically engineered mosquitoes have the potential to provide a solution. That being said, we are again dealing with a case where humans attempt to alter an entire species population, and as is expected, there is not only public backlash, but there may be unintended consequences of removing all mosquitoes. Removing or greatly reducing the mosquito population may alter other insect populations, bat populations, the pollination process, etc.