Genetically modified so that mosquitoes can't smell people

American scientists at Rocckefeller University have devised a way to transform mosquito genes, neutralizing their sense of smell for humans, making them not looking for people to suck blood.

The team thinks that mosquitoes have an olfactory receptor called an orco , which is considered a necessary component to combine special odor-related proteins into a smelling mechanism.

Mosquitoes can be genetically altered and their sense of smell is neutralized with human odors.(Photo: animals.nationalgeographic.com)

When orco is altered, the receptor is unbalanced, making it indistinguishable from humans with other hot-blooded animals.

It is noteworthy that two types of mosquitoes that transmit malaria and dengue in humans are Anopheles gambiae and Aedes aegypti, which are very fond of human smells.

Lead researcher Prof. Leslie Vosshall confirmed that the result of the orco transformation caused a serious imbalance in mosquitoes in distinguishing between human and other odors.

Another noteworthy point is that mosquitoes that have been altered with orco do not discriminate in the absence of carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ).