Can you hear it? It's the buzz of a feminist mozzie uprising.

Scientists announced this week they had not only located a gene that determines sex in developing mosquito embryos but when they tweaked it female offspring were born with male genitals.

Scientists have genetically engineered female mosquitoes into males. Credit:Nick Moir

The experiments are significant because only female mosquitoes suck blood, and when they bite someone with a disease such as dengue or yellow fever, spread the infections. These diseases infect about 100 million people a year.

If the novel idea works outside the laboratory it could significantly reduce wild mosquito populations because there would be fewer females to breed.