Science And Technology

 Fungus Spider Gene Formula To Kill Mosquitoes Mosquito Menace – Can it be ended once & for all? In order to stop lakhs of death casualties worldwide due to mosquito-borne diseases like Malaria & chikungunya – we will need to eradicate the mosquitoes – transmitter of lethal diseases. Scientists globally have been using genetic editing tools in order to win the battle against the mosquitoes, but none have made it beyond laboratory testing. Now, Researchers at the University of Maryland, have genetically altered a fungus to produce a spider toxin that kills mosquitoes. And, in out of Lab testing the fungus was able to reduce the mosquito population present by up to 99%. According to a research paper published  in  the journal Science, the fungus used & modified by UMD researchers kills mosquitoes in the wild     To provide the fungus a boost, the team engineered it to produce a toxin derived from the venom of the Australian Blue Mountains funnel-web spider