Transgenic Metarhizium rapidly kills mosquitoes in a malaria-endemic region of Burkina Faso

Targeting mosquitoes to target malaria Anopheline mosquitoes transmit the malaria parasite, but the insects themselves are prone to their own infections. Lovett et al. engineered a specific fungal pathogen of anophelines to carry insect-selective toxins. The effectiveness of this fungus for controlling mosquitoes was trialed in near-field conditions in Burkina Faso in a setup called MosquitoSphere. Approximately 75% of wild insecticide-resistant mosquitoes released into the environment became infected with the transgenic fungus, causing population collapse within 45 days. Science , this issue p. 894