Another Step Forward in Genetic Engineering of Mosquitoes

"Yellow, three-eyed, wingless mosquitoes" have made headlines this week, but the researchers at the University of California, Riverside, behind the news call the disruption of mosquitoes' cuticle, wing, and eye development a "proof of concept" for a new advance in the genetic engineering method known as CRISPR/Cas9. The method may accelerate scientists' work toward identifying the genes to target for disruption of mosquitoes' ability to carry and transmit human diseases.