How to stop mosquitoes from reproducing

BY DISMANTLING THE PROTEIN EOF1, RESEARCHERS CAUSED MOSQUITOES TO LAY DAMAGED EGGS THAT COULDN'T GROW EMBRYOS. (JUN ISOE)

Experts are investigating a number of ways to make mosquitoes unable to reproduce or spread disease, including infecting them with a type of bacteria or editing their genes. Now, researchers have another target: a newly discovered protein involved in making eggs dubbed eggshell organizing factor 1, or EOF1. When researchers hampered the activity of the protein in females, the eggs they laid were damaged and the embryos in those eggs died. What’s more, the protein is only found in mosquitoes, so any potential efforts to dismantle the protein in wild mosquito populations shouldn't affect other animals.