Sea cucumbers could provide a potential new weapon to block transmission of the malaria parasite, a study suggests.
The slug-like creature produces a protein, lectin, which impairs development of the parasites.
Malaria causes severe illness in 500 million people worldwide each year, and kills more than one million.
It is estimated that 40% of the world's population are at risk of the disease.
To stimulate the mosquitoes to produce lectin, the researchers fused part of the gene from the sea cucumber which produces the protein with a gene from the insect.
The results showed that the technique was effective against several of the parasites which cause malaria.
The sea cucumber protein significantly reduced the number of parasites in mosquitoes, it did not totally remove them from all insects.
At the current stage of development, the genetically modified mosquitoes would remain dangerous to humans.
Ultimately, one aim of the field is to find a way of genetically engineering mosquitoes so that the malaria parasite cannot develop inside them.
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