Mosquito Genetic
Modification Illustrations
Some scientists were in need of scientific illustrations for a research publication about genetically modified mosquitoes for malaria prevention. They needed a series of illustrations that communicate the potential release of these mosquitoes in the wild and various imagery that communicates ecosystem implications for various types of genetically modified mosquitoes.
Release of Modified Mosquitos
Malaria is spread by the female Anopheles mosquito. When an infected mosquito bites a person, it injects Plasmodium parasites into their bloodstream. These tiny parasites travel to the liver, grow, and then infect red blood cells, causing high fever, chills, and headaches. The scientists that I made these illustrations for, found a way to genetically modify the mosquitoes so that they could no longer carry the Plasmodium, and wanted to release these in a confined area (an island) to test the effects while stopping the spread of Malaria without eradicating all the mosquitoes.
Population Modification
Scientists have been thinking of modifying mosquitos before, where the goal is to introduce a mosquito designed to eliminate the target population by interrupting normal mosquito reproduction, This elimination can have all kinds of unforeseen consequences, which is why it is preferable to keep the population alive while making it unable to carry the malaria parasite.
Eliminating a target population of mosquitos would also open up the opportunity for other mosquito populations to increase as competitve constraints are removed, leading to more unforseen consequences.
Environmental Impact
The main problem with population suppression, by genetically modifying the mosquito so they can no longer reproduce, is the potential negative environmental impact. Mosquitoes play an important part in their ecosystem; they are an important food source for many other organisms for example, so eliminating the population could a severe impact on the environment.
Introduction to New Sites
Another advantage of modifying existing mosquito populations instead of eliminating them is the fact that you will not need to keep breeding the genetically engineered mosquitoes in large-scale rearing facilities and distribute them from there.
Instead, previously released mosquitoes will replace populations in the areas where they are released, and from there can be collected again and transported and released in new areas.
