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 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.
Originally from Southeast Asia, the striped Asian tiger mosquito found its way to the U.S. in the mid-1980s. Since then, it has spread to 26 states and can carry diseases deadly to both humans and animals, including West Nile virus, Zika, encephalitis, and dengue fever. Making matters worse, this mosquito is an especially active blood-sucker during the day, when we're out and about.
Unlike traditional chemical sprays, MosquitoMate's techniques won't douse the environment with chemicals that might kill some mosquitoes, but can also poison plenty of other insects, like bees and butterflies, as collateral damage.
"We're not using anything that's not already in the environment," Jimmy Mains, entomologist and chief science officer at MosquitoMate, told Mashable. "Part of our approach is to use less chemical insecticides."
Other insect researchers, not affiliated with MosquitoMate, support this insecticide-free endeavor.
“It’s a non-chemical way of dealing with mosquitoes, so from that perspective, you’d think it would have a lot of appeal,” David O’Brochta, an entomologist at the University of Maryland, told Nature. “I’m glad to see it pushed forward, as I think it could be potentially really important.”
This novel approach at controlling mosquito populations isn't just a non-toxic strategy — it could be significantly more effective than spraying down a yard with potent insecticides.
"One thing people don't realize is current methods don't have impacts upon these kind of mosquitoes," explained Maims. "It's hard to target them because they can breed in many areas in your yard."
To quell concerns that releasing more mosquitoes might just add more disease-spreading pests around American cities, towns, and neighborhoods, Maims emphasizes that MosquitoMate will only release male mosquitoes, which don't bite.
"We're pretty good at releasing just males," he said.
Unlike chemical sprays, however, MosquitoMates has a big limitation: its ability to produce enough mosquitoes to make a difference.
"That is a challenge right now," said Mains. Separating male bugs from females bugs is a tedious, time-consuming process. Right now, the startup separates the bug sexes using a combination of human hands and machines, but Mains says the company is currently working on further automating the process.
For now, the company's males will be released into people's yards (who pay for the service) to mate with female Asian tiger mosquitoes around Lexington, Kentucky before expanding its reach into other cities.
It seems the aggressive Asian tiger mosquito may have finally met its match: lab-bred versions of itself.
Topics Animals
Mark was the science editor at Mashable. After working as a ranger with the National Park Service, he started a reporting career after seeing the extraordinary value in educating people about the happenings on Earth, and beyond.
He's descended 2,500 feet into the ocean depths in search of the sixgill shark, ventured into the halls of top R&D laboratories, and interviewed some of the most fascinating scientists in the world.
