Armed mosquitoes to battle invasive, disease-carrying mosquitoes in the U.S.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cleared the mosquito control startup MosquitoMate this week to unleash its lab-bred insects upon an aggressively biting mosquito species in the U.S.

MosquitoMate can now deploy its genetically modified male Asian tiger mosquitoes in 20 U.S. states ridden with the same invasive, disease-carrying species. 

The males won’t actually kill the female mosquitoes. Instead, they play a long game, since they’re equipped with a common strain of bacteria, Wolbachia, that interferes with the genes the female mosquitoes pass on and spoils the fertilized eggs after mating. As a result, fewer blood sucking critters are hatched. Read more…

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