Scientists have genetically modified a fungus to make it produce the same lethal toxin as is found in the funnel web spider

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A genetically modified fungus that kills malaria-carrying mosquitoes could provide a breakthrough in the fight against the disease, according to researchers.

Trials in Burkina Faso found that a fungus, modified so that it produces spider toxin, quickly killed large numbers of mosquitos that carry malaria.

Within 45 days, mosquito populations were drastically reduced by more than 90%, according to researchers at the University of Maryland and the IRSS research institute in Burkina Faso.

Researchers selected a fungus, Metarhizium pingshaense, which naturally infects malaria-carrying mosquitoes. This fungus was then genetically modified so that it would produce a toxin found in the venom of a species of funnel-web spider.

Laboratory trials showed that the genetically modified fungus killed mosquitoes more quickly, with fewer spores, than wild fungus, according to the study, published in the journal Science.

The mosquitos were released into a 6,500sqft fake village, designed to imitate a real-life setting. “The way it is set up is you mimic the natural environment of mosquitos. You allow them to breed and feed inside so they can complete their life cycle inside,” said Diabate Abdoulaye, head of the medical entomology laboratory of the Institut de Recherche en Science de la Santé in Burkina Faso.

Insects left in normal conditions soared in number, but those living in tent compartments infected with the fungus fell rapidly.

The findings provide hope that new solutions to fighting malaria are in the pipeline, said Abdoulaye. He added the research is still in its early stages and would have to overcome significant regulatory barriers in order to be used in a real-life setting.

Global efforts to fight the disease have faltered in recent years, hindered by a lack of funding and the growing problem of insecticide resistance. In November, the World Health Organisation said there had been “no significant progress” in reducing global malaria cases between 2015 and 2017.

“In West Africa and mostly in Burkina Faso we have a lot of insecticide resistance problems. The conventional tool, the bed nets, that we have now … it looks like they have really reached their fundamental protective limit,” added Abdoulaye.

The same approach used in the trials could be repeated elsewhere in Africa, he added. “We strongly believe it is going to work because the mechanism and the behaviours of mosquitoes across the landscape of Africa are pretty much the same,” he said.

More than 400,000 die from the disease every year, according to the WHO, with more than half deaths among children aged under five years. In 2017, there were an estimated 219 million cases of malaria in 87 countries.