Manitoba research looking at release of sterile mosquitoes to control population

A Manitoba researcher has hatched a plan to control the mosquito population and it involves the release of millions of insects.

Steve Whyard, a professor of biological sciences at the University of Manitoba, explained that the technology he’s developing involves the release of sterile male mosquitoes.

He said this method is known as the “sterile insect technique.”

“[It’s] where you release millions of males into the habitat and they will go out there and compete for mates and basically result in a population crash if they’ve done their job right,” he said in an interview on Tuesday.

Whyard said the mosquitoes are sterilized using an RNA molecule that will turn off certain genes related to male fertility.

He added that so far this technique has worked in the laboratory.

“We can do this in cages of mosquitoes where we feed the larvae with the RNA molecules and then we put those mosquitoes into cages and watch them compete with fertile males,” he said.

“We have seen population crashes in the cage.”

Whyard said the technique wouldn’t risk wiping out the mosquito population entirely, explaining that it’s species-specific.

“The males that are sterilized are going to be released into the field and they only do one thing, which is chase down the females,” he said. “They’re only going to affect their own species and interfere with their mating.”

Going forward, Whyard’s research will move out of the laboratory and into field cages. This way he can see if the technique works in natural conditions.

From there, he will take it to the field; however, that will require regulatory approval and further experimentation.

Whyard noted he still has several years of work ahead until this is potentially implemented.

- With files from CTV’s Maralee Caruso