Honors English 12 Unit 4: Nature and Ourselves

You’ve done it! You’ve made it to your 16th and final unit of high school English.
Check in from Your School
Counselors
 Honors English 12: Week of April 27th-
May 1st
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 This Week’s

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What is the impact of one's generate a list of the different ways
personal agency upon the that humans have manipulated
natural world? Should there nature. As the Pennies for Patients
be limits to man's coordinator, I will get us started with
“the development of cancer
manipulation of nature? treatments.”
 Using your understanding of the positive and
negative implications of CRISPR and the use of
gene drives, compose a claim asserting your
position on their use in the scientific world.
AEDES AEGYPTI
Aedes aegypti is an invasive mosquito now found in tropical, sub-tropical and
temperate regions across the globe. Aedes aegypti spreads dengue, Zika,
chikungunya and yellow fever. According to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, approximately 100 million people each year suffer from dengue – a
debilitating and sometimes fatal disease also known as ‘break-bone fever’. Other
estimates put the number of infections as high as 400 million people per year and
the number of infections is growing rapidly.

OUR SOLUTION
The 2nd Generation Friendly™ Aedes aegypti carries a self-limiting gene that
prevents female offspring from surviving, allowing for male-only production.
After releases of Friendly™ males into the field, which find and mate with wild
female mosquitoes, reduction of the target population is achieved as the female
offspring of these encounters cannot survive. Male progeny survive, carrying a
copy of the self-limiting gene; in turn, these males are able to pass on the self-
limiting gene to half of their offspring, of which female carriers of the gene cannot
survive. The self-limiting gene can thereby persist but declines over time, offering
potentially multiple but still self-limiting generations of suppression for every
Oxitec Friendly™ Aedes aegypti male released.
FACTSHEET
Where is Aedes aegypti native?
Aedes aegypti is invasive in most of its current range, after spreading from its native
Africa.
How has it spread across the world?
The eggs of Aedes aegypti are able to remain dormant in dry conditions for several
months, then hatching when it rains. As international movement of people and goods has
risen, Aedes aegypti has been inadvertently taken with them as dormant eggs, helping
the mosquito to colonise new regions.
What makes Aedes aegypti such a dangerous disease vector?
The female Aedes aegypti mosquito is able to transmit several viral diseases - including
dengue, Zika, chikungunya and yellow fever - when it blood-feeds. Aedes aegypti has a
strong preference for biting people and adapts well to living in urban areas. It is also a
day-biting mosquito, which reduces the effectiveness of bed-nets in protecting people
against biting female Aedes aegypti.
ENRICHMENT

Examining political
cartoons related to
genetic engineering