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Less than a year after launch, TESS is already finding bizarre worlds
JANUARY 08, 2019
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A protein in mosquito eggshells could be the insects� Achilles� heel
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NEWS IN BRIEF
ANIMALS,GENETICS,DEVELOPMENT
A protein in mosquito eggshells could be the insects� Achilles� heel
New research on the bloodsuckers may one day help control their numbers
BY TINA HESMAN SAEY 2:00PM, JANUARY 8, 2019
Culex quinquefasciatus mosquito
EGGCELENT Scientists have discovered a protein necessary for some mosquito eggs,
such as these being laid by a Culex quinquefasciatus female, to properly develop
eggshells.

SEAN MCCANN/FLICKR (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

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Mosquito researchers may have hatched a new plan to control the bloodsuckers: Break
their eggshells.

A protein called eggshell organizing factor 1, or EOF1, is necessary for some

mosquito species� eggs and embryos to develop properly, a new study finds.
Genetically disrupting production of that protein in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes
caused about 60 percent of their normally dark eggshells to be pale. And shells
lacking EOF1 often collapsed and were more porous than normal. In experiments,
almost no mosquito embryos in the EOF1-disrupted eggs hatched into larvae,
researchers report January 8 in PLOS Biology.

EOF1 is produced only by Aedes, Anopheles and Culex mosquito species, biochemist
Jun Isoe of the University of Arizona in Tucson and colleagues discovered. Those
varieties of mosquitoes can transmit life-threatening diseases such as malaria,
Zika, dengue and West Nile virus (SN: 11/10/18, p. 22). The protein could be a good
target for genetic engineering techniques or insecticides, which may help control
populations of disease-carrying mosquitoes without killing harmless insects, the
researchers speculate.

On eggshells
In these scanning electron micrograph images, the shells of Aedes aegypti eggs
lacking a protein called EOF1 (right column) have round bumps that are six times as
large as those on shells with normal amounts of the protein (left column). The
abnormal eggshells are also leaky, fragile and often collapse.

scanning electron micrograph images of the shells of Aedes aegypti eggs

J. ISOE ET AL/PLOS BIOLOGY 2019
�This is truly outside-the-box thinking, and I like that,� says entomologist Joe
Conlon, a technical adviser for the American Mosquito Control Association, an
organization based in Mount Laurel, N.J., that helps individuals, companies and
public health agencies control mosquitoes and other disease-spreading insects.

But many hurdles stand between the research and creating an effective mosquito-
control strategy based on EOF1, Conlon says. The genetic technique that the
scientists used to disrupt production of the protein is too cumbersome for
widespread use, for example, and a chemical to disable EOF1 specifically has yet to
be found. Still, knowing more about mosquito reproduction may also prove helpful in
other ways, he says.

Citations
J. Isoe et al. Identification and characterization of a mosquito-specific eggshell
organizing factor in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. PLOS Biology. Vol. 17, January 8,
2019, p. e3000068. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.3000068.

Further Reading
S. Milius. Humans wiped out mosquitoes (in one small lab test). Science News. Vol.
194, December 22, 2018, p. 26.

A. Cunningham. Zika may harm nearly 1 in 7 babies exposed to the virus in the womb.
Science News Online, August 7, 2018.

Y.-H. Law. Malaysia is ground zero for the next malaria menace. Science News. Vol.
194, November 10, 2018, p. 22.

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