Pouya Rohani
October 23, 2010
5:35 pm
The Anopheles gambiae mosquito is one of the most known mosquitos that carries malaria parasite. According to the World Health Organization, it infect two hundred fifty million individuals in a year. Recently, researchers found out the reason for the Anopheles gambiae mosquito is so adaptable to extreme environments, can survive in the environment from dry savannas to humid rainforests. They found out very recently that this strain of African mosquito is getting closer to divide into two different species, M and S. M and S lineages cannot be called two different species yet because they can interbreed and produce fertile and viable offspring. However, the number of interbreeding cases in the natural environment is very low. If for any reason they do not interbreed at all in near future, there is very strong possibility that they become two different species. It is very hard and almost impossible to distinguish M lineage from S lineage. Researcher Nora Besansky, a biologist at the University of Notre Dame, discovered the difference in the species based on differences in DNA. Also, M and S each live in different habitat. S likes to breed in puddle and temporary pools, but M is more in favor of irrigated habitat.
I think this is a very important discovery and hopefully researchers could use this discovery to find out a new way to prevent expansion of malaria. Researchers’ job becomes even harder because they have to deal with two distinct species that harm in a same way in near future. Researchers did not find any treatment for malaria disease that spread naturally by mosquito. Malaria can cause poverty and many more social problems that is the consequence of poverty. Each individual family that are effected with the disease has to spend most of its income for medication instead of buying food and other essential necessity of the life.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39782306/ns/technology_and_science-science/
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