蚊子性别基因 z-bo 2020-11-03 394

　　A new research report published by Chinese and American scientists shows that there is a gene named Nix that makes Aedes aegypti, which transmit dengue fever and yellow fever, become male. This is the first time that the "sex determining promoter gene" has been found and verified in mosquitoes.

　　This result was published in the new issue of the American "Science" magazine. Professor Tu Zhijian from Virginia Tech, who is in charge of the research, told Xinhua News Agency reporters: “From the perspective of basic scientific research, this research has taken a new step in our understanding of the male determination mechanism. From an application perspective, this gene may Used to convert female mosquitoes into male mosquitoes or reduce female mosquitoes."

　　Only female mosquitoes can transmit dengue fever and yellow fever, because female mosquitoes need to suck blood and use the protein and other substances to lay eggs. The male mosquitoes draw nourishment by sucking nectar instead of blood, and do not transmit diseases. Based on this, Tu Zhijian proposed that the Nix gene can be manipulated to make Aedes aegypti more male and less female, thereby reducing the number of this mosquito and controlling this harmful invasive species.

　　Tu Zhijian said that male determining genes are often located in the "black hole" of the genome, which is a chromosomal region with many repetitive sequences, so male determining genes have not been found in insects before. In the new research, they developed a more efficient calculation method to lock the Nix gene.

　　Researchers injected the Nix gene into mosquito embryos and found that two-thirds of females developed male mosquito sex organs; when they used a gene editing technique to "knock out" the Nix gene, male mosquitoes transformed into female mosquitoes, and female mosquitoes developed Sex organs. However, Tu Zhijian said that it is still uncertain whether adding the Nix gene will cause complete degeneration of mosquitoes.

　　He also speculated that the Nix gene may be applicable to closely related mosquito species, such as Aedes albopictus, which is a vector that transmits dengue fever in Guangdong, China.

　　Aedes aegypti is an invasive species that originated in Africa and spread to the world through slave trade hundreds of years ago. Aedes aegypti spreads dengue fever and yellow fever, and is highly adapted to the human living environment. It is considered a major public health threat.