Meant for Malaria: Why Some Mosquitoes Carry it Better

It's not just all about location. Past research has shown that certain species of mosquitoes are better at transmitting malaria than even their close relatives. Now a new genetic assessment has revealed why exactly this is, and potentially offers new options for containing the spread of the deadly parasite.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites that find their way into humans through the bites of infected mosquitoes. The resulting infection causes between 470,000 and 789,000 deaths each year - mostly among poor children in Africa.

And while the illness is both preventable and curable, the Plasmodium parasite, spread by female Anopheles mosquitoes, is vicious and aggressive, causing chill, vomiting, and fever on the first day of symptoms, and quickly escalating into severe anaemia, respiratory distress, or even cerebral problems.

Of a whopping 450 different Anopheles species around the world, only 20 are "locally important, according to the WHO. Recent research has revealed that from this group only 16 species have varying capabilities for transmitting malaria and adapting to new environments.

That's why Daniel Neafsey, a scientist with the Broad Institute; Robert Waterhouse, a Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Nora Besansky, a professor from the University of Notre Dame, got together to lead a team on an investigation of the mosquito makeup, determining just what makes a select few of these insects the ideal malaria delivery system.

"We now have the exciting opportunity to significantly improve our understanding of these important malaria vectors and develop new strategies to combat malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases," Zhijian Tu, a biochemist who worked on the team, said in a statement.

This understanding of genetic factors comes in the form of two papers recently published in the journal Science. The second study, led by Besansky and Matthew Hahn, also details how the most dangerous species, Anopheles gambiae, is able to increase its transmission capabilities by swapping genes at the chromosomal level.

This is but a baby step in the direction of one day utterly eliminating malaria, but it is still progress towards a goal of one day controlling the disease in a way beyond treatment or wiping out mosquito populations entirely.

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