GENETICALLY modified mosquitoes that were designed by scientists to help populations decrease are actually thriving.
This is according to new research that claims the plan to create gene-hacked mosquitoes that have offspring which die immediately has spectacularly backfired and now scientists don’t know what will happen next
The modified mosquitoes were released in Jacobina in Brazil and were supposed to mix with the local population and decrease numbers with their weak offspring genetics.
Although the wild population did plummet for a short while, 18 months later it was right back up again.
This is mostly concerning because scientists think the new ‘super mosquitoes’ have properties that might make them harder to kill.
Research about the pests has been published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports.
Mosquitoes like the Aedes aegypti variety that was edited can carry dangerous diseases like yellow fever, Zika virus and Malaria.
This is why efforts are being made to reduce their numbers.
However, now traces of the genetically modified genes have been found in the natural population.
This means they are successfully interbreeding.
The researchers concluded: “It is unclear how this may affect disease transmission or affect other efforts to control these dangerous vectors.”
The offspring of the gene-hacked mosquitoes and the natural ones are thought to be more robust but whether they pose a threat is unknown.