Scientists Streamline Editing Technique for Mosquito Genome

Scientists at Virginia Tech revealed a new way to study genes in mosquitoes using a genome-editing method known as CRISPR-Cas9. Genome editing enables scientists to study the genome of organisms by removing or adding certain genes to observe how the organism is affected. CRISPR-Cas9 makes genome editing more efficient and speeds up the development of new mosquito control or disease prevention strategies.

"We've cut the human capital it takes to evaluate genes in disease-carrying mosquitoes by a factor of 10," said Zach N. Adelman, an associate professor at Virginia Tech. "Not a lot of research groups have the resources to spend four months working with up to 5,000 mosquito embryos to investigate a gene that may ultimately have no bearing on their work. Now they can potentially do the same investigation in a week."

Read more at Virginia Tech News.