Editor’s Selections: Fast and effective adaptation in a fungus, using mosquitoes to smart bomb breeding grounds, and escaping the poverty trap of infectious disease
January 1st, 2010 Editor's Selections 6 Comments
Vincent Racaniello selects several notable posts each week from molecular and cellular biology and virology. He blogs at virology blog.
- The fungus Aspergillus nidulans is manipulated in the lab to answer an important question in evolutionary theory: During adaptation, how many mutations are needed, and how much do they affect the fitness of the organism? Adaptation is short and fast, requiring only a few mutations. Among those mutations, the first has greater effect on fitness than those which follow.
- There are two main ways to control mosquitoes: kill adults and larvae, and destroy breeding grounds. The latter approach is difficult, but might be faciliated by using adult mosquitoes to transfer insecticides to larval habitats.
- Infectious diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, cholera, and AIDS remain widespread in much of the developing world. Poorer nations lack the resources to control these diseases, which compound the problem by slowing or preventing the necessary economic development. Boosting economic productivity is the fastest route out of this poverty trap.
I’ll be back next Friday with more selections.
