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[Michaelangelica]

I heard a great story about geckos will tell it to you soon

Now another solution is on the horizon. Scientists at the University of Melbourne have discovered a bacterium that may reduce the fertility of the dreaded Malaria carrying mosquito. Interestingly, they found the bacterium in the most unlikely of places - in the stomach of insects.

Professor Ary Hoffmann and Dr Andrew Weeks from the department of Genetics at the University of Melbourne used the Californian fruit fly (Drosophilia) as a model in their experiments to study a bacterium that commonly infects insects but has evolved from being parasitic to becoming a fertility aid.

"In the Wolbachia bacteria, we have found that they had rapidly changed from being parasitic and therefore detrimental to their insect host, to engaging in a mutualistic relationship where both bacteria and insect benefit because the insect gains enhanced fertility," said Andrew.

"We believe this bacterium could be an option for pest control in order to kill the common human disease carriers, mosquitoes.

"Wolbachia is spread from an infected male to an uninfected female," Andrew explained. "We found that within 20 years, the infected females had gone from having reduced fertility with a 15-20 per cent reduction in egg production, to a 10 per cent increase in egg production under laboratory conditions. Our results suggest a small reduction, but similar changes are occurring in nature.

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