Team:CIEI-BJ/Description
Mosquitoes are considered as one of the most deadly animals due to their capability of transmitting infectious diseases among humans. These insects use saliva for circumventing the physical responses of preys, and various pathogens contained are transported among individuals as the mosquitoes continuously sting. Mosquito-borne diseases have caused many cases of infections and deaths globally. Malaria, common disease found in tropical and sub-tropical regions, was reported to have 296 million cases and 730500 deaths in 2015. Zika viruses, another epidemic disease, was reported to have 1.5 million cases in 2016. To avoid the devastating influences of mosquitoes, many mosquito repellent methods were applied to the market. However, the products people used to repel mosquitoes now, are not satisfying enough. The most important problem is that the products contain poisonous ingredient which may harm the users. Furthermore, the products are not very effective in mosquito repelling. To improve the current unsatisfying situation of the mosquito repellents, our team, CIEI-BJ, utilized knowledge of synthetic biology to provide a better solution. We constructed the genetic pathway involved geraniol synthase (GES) and old yellow enzyme (OYE) to modify the plasmid of E.coli and let E.coli help us to transfer glucose into citronellol, a much more effective and non-poisonous substance for repelling of mosquitoes.
