New families of bacteria which are common in malaria mosquitoes were discovered by researchers and attempts are made to use these bacteria in a probe to battle malaria, a deadly epidemic that is still present in many countries worldwide.
The bacteria were described by researchers from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and Uppsala University in Sweden, Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen in Germany, and the Veterinärmedizinische Universität in Austria.
The study was published in the February issue of International Journal of Systemic and Evolutionary Microbiology. In fact, to discover a family of bacterium in lined with this family tree is rare and only happened once in the last 50 years.
The family of bacteria is called Thorselliaceae which-h was named after the a 96-year old Professor Walborg Thorsell. He is a mosquito researcher. Olle Terenius, researcher from the Department of Ecology, SLU, when the first species of Thorsellia in Kenyan malaria mosquito were discovered, they did not know that it will be common in mosquitoes.
The researchers were able to isolate the bacterial strains from the larvae of the mosquito carrying malaria in Africa and nearby countries. Now, they are looking for a way to use the bacteria in the plight to destroy and battle malaria.
Aside from the strain of bacteria in Kenyan malaria mosquitoes, they also isolated strains from other mosquitoes responsible in malaria spread in Africa, India, Indian, Brazil and United States. The team also believes that the bacteria are evolving with the mosquitoes for years now.
Terenius added, "We and other research groups are now trying to understand the interaction between Thorsellia and mosquitoes. Among other things, Thorsellia have properties facilitating mosquito-larvae uptake and survival." Now, they are working to modify the bacteria to fight malaria.
Sebastian Håkansson, a co-researcher at SLU's Department of Microbiology told Science Daily, "We are looking for bacteria that live in the mosquito gut and which grow quickly when the mosquito has taken a blood meal. The idea is to genetically modify these bacteria to produce substances that stop malaria parasite development."