Production of a transgenic mosquito, as a flying syringe, to deliver protective vaccine via saliva

Genetic modification has not only been applied in bacteria but also in animals. Transgenic mice, sheep, dogs, zebra fish, flies and silkworms have appeared in laboratories, as have transgenic mosquitoes. Anopheline mosquitoes that transmit malaria have been targeted for the insertion of transgenes to reduce their ability to spread disease [1]. Some laboratories, including ours, have succeeded in producing transgenic mosquitoes with lower levels of malaria parasites in the digestive tract after blood meals on malaria -infected animals [2,3]. The goal of such attempts is to control disease transmission through genetic modification of the mosquitoes [4]. As part of our Grand Challenge Exploration grant (Round 1; 2008) we considered producing a pathogen protein in the mosquito salivary glands through insertion of a novel gene into the mosquito genome.