Malaria, CRISPR/Cas9 and gene drives

Mosquitoes are known to spread malaria, however, mosquitoes are different. By collecting thousands of mosquitoes in four different African countries, we found that some mosquito species are much better vectors of malaria-causing parasites than others. Statistics and modeling analyses of our big dataset revealed that the prevalence of malaria-infected mosquitoes depends on the composition of mosquito species inhabiting this area. We also discovered that mosquito immune system and metabolism determine the success of parasite development in the mosquito and its virulence to the next human host.