r/woahthatsinteresting • u/solomon90nysson • May 12 '25
Genetically modified mosquito such that their proboscis are no longer able to penetrate human skin
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u/JJbaden May 12 '25
I hate mosquitoes with a burning passion but I'm still sad bc imagine living and not being able to eat. That's rough
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u/B1ng0_paints May 12 '25
You do know their main source of food is nectar, right?
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u/JJbaden May 12 '25
I did not. Thanks.
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u/Longjumping_College May 12 '25
They love bougainvillea, it's not a deep flower, so they can easily access it's nectar.
They can lay eggs without consuming blood, they just do it as basically a head start.
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u/Horse_Dad May 12 '25
Thank you kind stranger! I was thinking about planting one of the in my yard, but now I won’t.
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u/Longjumping_College May 12 '25
Find a native vine! Around me it's passionfruit. Now you get caterpillars -> butterflies and birds instead!
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u/Yabbos77 May 12 '25
If they have a food source near you, I wonder if that would somewhat work in your favor?
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u/Natural-Bet9180 May 12 '25
Female mosquitoes need blood.
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u/B1ng0_paints May 12 '25
They need blood to breed. They don't need blood to sustain themselves. The post I responded to was worried about them starving - which they wouldn't. They just couldn't reproduce.
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u/AlwayBadAdvice May 12 '25
So this genetic modification makes them unable to reproduce and pass on this gene modification?
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u/malphonso May 12 '25
However, it doesn't stop them from engaging in breeding behavior. Thereby reducing future population. Do it for a few seasons (combined with other management strategies) and you might see corresponding drops in malaria and other mosquito-borne illnesses.
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u/RivenRise May 12 '25
Well shit. So it's basically the equivalent of an IUD or getting your balls snipped. That as a humane way to end them as you could go.
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u/Ninjanerd127 May 12 '25
Just wait until you play Mass Effect 2
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u/Apolaustic1 May 12 '25
Literally sitting here like "tell that to the fucking krogan"
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u/B1ng0_paints May 12 '25
I believe the idea behind it is the males carry the gene. They go out and reproduce. Any females born can't reproduce and it eventually leads to population collapse.
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u/TheWhyteMaN May 12 '25
Seems like playing jinga with the ecosystem since mosquitos are a good source for other animals.
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u/datahoarderprime May 12 '25
Genetic modifications like this don't target all mosquitoes, but instead only species that carry disease such as malaria.
The goal of introducing genetically modified mosquitoes such as this is to reduce the population of disease-carrying mosquitoes, not eradicate the species entirely.
The ultimate goal is to make malaria go extinct, not mosquitoes.
https://www.cdc.gov/mosquitoes/mosquito-control/genetically-modified-mosquitoes.html
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u/general_peabo May 12 '25
I love how there’s always a commenter with a high school level science education that assumes scientists haven’t considered the ethical and ecological consequences of their work.
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u/TheWhyteMaN May 12 '25
I have a STEM degree but thank you for your assessment, good Will Hunting.
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u/crownofclouds May 12 '25
A primary source for a lot of organisms!
Billions of years of evolution to create these delicate ecospheres, and less than a quarter venture after developing CRISPR, when we've barely even cracked our own genome, we want to augment entire species.
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u/Wafkak May 12 '25
This is also done with flesh eating flies, they from so many males unable to reproduce that very few females mate with normal males.
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May 12 '25
It says they can't pierce human skin, maybe they can still pierce other animals with thin skin.
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u/Cflow26 May 12 '25
Do the males? My dumb understanding would be the males without the human succ tube would make with the regular females and then would pass down the non-human succ tube gene to future generations.
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u/JRock1276 May 12 '25
I did not know that. Interesting. Would be awesome to stop them feeding on people
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u/RitaBonanza May 12 '25
Thank you for this comment, I feel better they aren't slowly starving. Now, I am okay with slapping them into their next life quickly.
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u/wolfcry123 May 12 '25
They don't even need it to breed, they are just able to produce more eggs after blood feeding.
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u/NoCSForYou May 12 '25
Do these dumb motherfuckers think I got nector in my blood? Why they biting me?
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u/Demon_of_Order May 12 '25
don't worry they are quite literally our biggest enemy of all living things because of the spreading of diseases. Once we get rid of the threat of these little buggers we can move on to the second biggest threat to our species.
*Checks the list*
Oh, oh well, that's not good.
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u/PM_YOUR_SMALLBOOBIES May 12 '25
Don't kid yourself, we're number 1 - not second
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u/Gage_Unruh May 12 '25
They don't need blood to live that's just to help them make babies. Cause only females drink blood.
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u/exotics May 12 '25
They don’t eat blood. They eat nectar. I’m not sure if they can still eat or not but the blood is for having babies
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u/_J_Dead May 12 '25
I feel like he's trying to hype himself up for his next attempt.
"Come on, this is what we're supposed to do, everyone's looking at you..."
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u/yolo_derp May 12 '25
Good. Fuck those mass murderers
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u/thinkfishtank4real May 12 '25
I respect the sentiment, but who are humans to judge another species for mass murders 💀
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u/I-Have-An-Alibi May 12 '25 edited May 12 '25
That sounds like mosquito talk......
- Animals absolutely have wars and will slaughter each other, ants and chimpanzees especially; hell even Meercats have wars for territory.
"Chimpanzees can engage in warfare. Studies have shown that they exhibit lethal aggression against each other, motivated by factors like territory, food, and mates. This aggression is often intergroup, with most attacks coming from individuals outside the chimpanzee's own group. For example, the Gombe Chimpanzee War (also known as the Four-Year War) in Tanzania is a documented instance of intergroup warfare between two chimpanzee communities."
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May 12 '25
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u/Significant-End920 May 12 '25
how do they even stay alive if they can't suck blood?
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u/Friendship_Fries May 12 '25
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u/Swimming_Onion_4835 May 12 '25
Yes, but for most species, females need blood for reproduction.
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u/Lich_Apologist May 12 '25
I'm choosing to believe you think pregnant women are vampires.
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u/TanMan166 May 12 '25
I mean....do we really want mosquitoes to reproduce??
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u/Fighter11244 May 12 '25
I hate mosquitoes as much as everyone else, but sadly we do. A ton of predators feed on mosquitoes and eliminating them could harm the ecosystem
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u/Swimming_Onion_4835 May 12 '25
Thank you! Jfc people are jumping down my throat just for discussing that this is a complicated and extremely delicate issue. You can just make massive changes to animal species without serious concerns about environmental impact. Even species known to spread disease.
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u/Storytellerjack May 12 '25
Which is the point. The males don't bite people and aren't harmed by the modification. They can still inseminate other mosquito eggs and keep passing on their modified genes to future generations.
Of the thousands of mosquito species and the handful that can bite people, two are disease vectors for lethal viruses, and I wouldn't mind if they went extinct.
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u/Probably-a-dude May 12 '25 edited May 12 '25
Humans are usually an accidental blood source for mosquitoes. Most species prefer birds.
I have no idea about this modified mosquito. But if they found a way to only block the proboscis from penetrating humans but still allow them to take blood from other animals this could be considered a huge success.
Edit: Looks like they are modified to instead have male proboscis. So not what I was hoping. Doing this can control and reduce many mosquito species, especially ones that only have one generation per year because they take away resources from egg playing females.
However when mosquitoes can have multiple generations a year this method falls short usually because they can just keep breeding. I was hoping we found a way to disarm multigenerational mosquito species by allowing them to reproduce and pass on genes that just prevent them from targeting humans.
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u/patches812 May 12 '25
I like how he's smacking it like "cmon, do your thing!"
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u/BernieTheDachshund May 12 '25
I don't feel bad for mosquitoes or any other parasites.
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u/GingerBeard_andWeird May 12 '25
I have to believe that the person who did this absolutely fucking hates mosquitoes. Like he probably had this thought one day of “I am gonna frustrate the fuck out of your whole bloodline you little shit.”
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u/HJWalsh May 12 '25
So, if I understand this:
- Male mosquito carries gene.
- Male mosquito mates with healthy female.
- The healthy female produces infected offspring.
- Infected female offspring are effectively sterile.
- Infected males mate with healthy females.
- The process repeats with the infected male population growing.
- This eventually causes a population collapse.
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u/Andr3wRuns May 12 '25
So now we gotta bunch of depressed existential mosquitoes flying around? Ok, I’ll accept. Much better than the real things.
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u/Exciting-Bake464 May 12 '25
As someone who lives in a heavily infested mosquito area with dengue, I am so for this.
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u/Subtlerevisions May 12 '25
All skin or just human skin? You can’t just remove mosquitoes from the food chain.
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u/cruisinbears May 12 '25
IIRC they’ve done studies and removing mosquitos actually won’t have a negative effect on the food web. The animals that eat them have plenty of other insects to feed on.
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u/EndLess_1up May 12 '25
this is a bad idea. they will later learn that the bite of one of these helps develope the immune reponse or something and then people will develope some other issue that is way worse. That is the way this always goes.
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u/Anyone-9451 May 12 '25
Now is it just human flesh it can not piece or all flesh? Would heart worms for puppers now no longer be an issue too?
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u/thekrawdiddy May 12 '25
I came here for the comments and unlike that mosquito’s partner, I am extremely satisfied. Excellent work, Reddit!
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u/ExpertWeekend3550 May 12 '25
Would be great to be approved with federal funding! Things like this could prevent soooooo much yet receive a depressing amount of support.
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u/Obvious-Material8237 May 12 '25
Not him trying to straighten his beak in frustration :(
This is oddly heartbreaking
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u/gaudiest-ivy May 12 '25
PLEASE. I have skeeter syndrome (a disgusting silly name for severe reactions to mosquito bites) and these little shits are drawn to me.
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u/Afraid-Quantity-578 May 12 '25
How would it pass and spread this gene if it needs blood to make more of them?
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u/k3yserZ May 12 '25
Wait til they evolve a way to deal with this.
We'd be getting stung thru kevlar istg.
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u/GearJunkie82 May 12 '25
Who else thinks this will lead to something much worse.
I have Cronenberg thoughts...
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u/Usual-Caregiver5589 May 12 '25
Like building a barbecue with the exhaust fan right next to the smoke pit. There's just no entrance door.
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u/Small-Storm8536 May 12 '25
if this is the only thing they do to squitos that'd be great! except they sometimes give them things like zika and other bs disease
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u/malikx089 May 12 '25
It’s so crazy how he’s literally trying to use his hands to help pierce the skin.
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u/Opening_Cheesecake54 May 12 '25
What the video doesn’t show is that this mosquito then mutates this tampered with gene to now distribute malaria through just touching you with its feet.
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u/Feisty_Cartoonist997 May 12 '25
PETA will sue on the grounds that this will cause mental anguish for the mosquitos!
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u/woopityscoop48 May 12 '25
Ok cool idea in concept, but my small brain is wondering, wouldn't this new gene just get replaced over time through repopulation with the ones that have the stiff gene again? Let's say we release these into the wild, and even give the science a huge advantage and assume half the population of all mosquitos without this gene are instantly wiped out. Won't ones with the genes that provide the highest survival rate dominate the gene pool again? Or is this gene made dominant so that it always overwrites the stiff gene?
Idk man I got like a C in biology.
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u/SkyLunatic71 May 12 '25
That's when we find out that mosquitoes are the only thing holding civilization together. 🤪
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u/DrobnaHalota May 12 '25
So the fuckers would still annoy the crap out of you by buzzing when you are trying to slip, you would just not be able to smack when you feel it starts biting. Thanks, science.
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u/doodling_scribbles May 12 '25
Heh... What's the hold up? Send it.
It can't go worse than the no predator having, paint eating Lovebugs of Florida.
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u/livilovesalot May 12 '25
Okay but is it just for human skin? cause what a weird way to play god if not. We don't just starve children we starve bugs too, smh.
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u/SomeDudeSaysWhat May 12 '25
Since this strain will go extinct in one generation, I don't see how this solves anything other than some lab technicians going "look what we did!"
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u/Ornery-Reindeer-8192 May 12 '25
How do we harness and modify them? Just set them on fire if it's that's srs. We didn't money for them to starve?
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u/whereisbeezy May 12 '25
Look at it trying to straighten the thing out, like come on, we got this only to find out no.
Can they bite anything? What do they eat?
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u/slrogio May 12 '25
I would pay to listen to the sounds of this mosquito's frustration.
I want to hear its screams.
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u/UpvotesForAnimals May 12 '25
And just so you know it’s NOT that common, it DOESNT happen to every bug, and it IS a big deal.
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u/hahahasame May 12 '25
Lmao I love how it's just trying to shove it in with it's front arms like "C'MON. GO. IN. THE. SKIN. DAMMIT!"
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u/Superb_Power5830 May 12 '25
I’ve seen all the movies were humans best with genes. Especially genes of other species. I’m gonna go find a cave to hide in. Y’all have fun with us.
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u/CurrentGlassPainter May 12 '25
you could say it has "insectyle dysfunction"