image: A model of the interactions between the mosquito immune system, its microbiota, and mate choice. The mosquito immune system decreases the mosquito microbiota, whether regulated by genetic modification or naturally. This microbiota, in turn, affects both the insect innate immune system and mosquitoes' mate choices. These mate preferences lead to an altered prevalence of genetically modified mosquitoes with increased immune activity. The increased immune activity of genetically modified mosquitoes render them resistant to the malaria parasite. This material relates to a paper that appeared in the 29 September 2017, issue of Science, published by AAAS. The paper, by A. Pike at Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, and colleagues was titled, "Changes in the microbiota cause genetically modified Anopheles to spread in a population." view more
Credit: Prof. Dimopoulos and Dr. Pike