Dengue fever causes severe flulike symptoms and is among the world's most pressing public health issues. There are 50 million to 100 million cases per year, and nearly 40 percent of the global population is at risk. The dengue virus is spread through the bite of infected female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, and there is no vaccine or treatment.
UCI researchers and colleagues from Oxitec Ltd. and the University of Oxford created the new breed. Flightless females are expected to die quickly in the wild, curtailing the number of mosquitoes and reducing - or even eliminating - dengue transmission. Males of the strain can fly but do not bite or convey disease.
When genetically altered male mosquitoes mate with wild females and pass on their genes, females of the next generation are unable to fly. Scientists estimate that if released, the new breed could sustainably suppress the native mosquito population in six to nine months. The approach offers a safe, efficient alternative to harmful insecticides.
Erich Feldmeier on 23 Mar 12"Males and females differ in their biobehavioural response to stress, where males exhibit a heightened sympathetic response to stress compared with females. Specifically, Taylor et al. 1 propose that the classic "fight-or-flight" response to stress is adaptive for males, whilst females engage in a so-called "tend-and-befriend" response to stress. We propose that the Y-chromosome gene, SRY (sex-determining region on the Y chromosome), provides a genetic basis for the heightened sympathetic reactivity to stress and thus predominance of "fight-flight" response in males. Our idea is based on studies that demonstrate (i) the presence of SRY in brain regions and peripheral tissues abundant in catecholamines, (ii) the regulation of catecholamine synthesis and breakdown by SRY, and (iii) the role of SRY in voluntary movement and blood pressure in males"
