Diseases transmitted by mosquitoes have contributed to the death and suffering of millions throughout human history, earning the mosquito the title as the world's most dangerous animal. Even today, several devastating mosquito-borne diseases (such as malaria, dengue fever and West Nile virus) continue to rage.
The urgent need to better control mosquito numbers and interfere with
disease transmission has guided much mosquito research in laboratories
worldwide. Female mosquitoes rely on a blood-meal as a source of
nutrients required for reproduction. The thinking is that if the
mechanisms that govern mosquitoes' egg production are better understood,
novel approaches to controlling the reproduction and population of
mosquitoes can be devised.
Now a team of scientists at the University of California, Riverside has made a research breakthrough in understanding, at the molecular level, one such mechanism related to the mosquito reproductive process. This mechanism includes small regulatory RNA molecules known as microRNAs or miRNAs.
Now a team of scientists at the University of California, Riverside has made a research breakthrough in understanding, at the molecular level, one such mechanism related to the mosquito reproductive process. This mechanism includes small regulatory RNA molecules known as microRNAs or miRNAs.
