Mapping the Genome of a Deadly Vector...

Interesting:

After recently mapping all the DNA, or genome, of the mosquito that spreads yellow and dengue fever, scientists were surprised to find it is more complex than the genome of the mosquito that carries malaria. Scientists plan to use this information to help them battle disease.

Researchers published the genome yesterday for the mosquito, Aedes aegypti, which spreads disease in tropical and sub-tropical locales worldwide as it feeds on human blood. The mosquito's genome could guide researchers' efforts to develop new insecticides or to create genetically engineered varieties of this mosquito that are either unable or less able to transmit the viruses that cause yellow fever and dengue fever.

Only a few insect genomes have been completely mapped so far, including one other mosquito species, Anopheles gambiae, which was published in 2002. This other species carries the malaria parasite. Even there are approximately 3,500 mosquito species worldwide, these two cause the most human misery.

The researchers discovered that the genome for Aedes is about five times larger than the one for Anopheles. Even though both species have roughly 16,000 genes, Aedes is loaded up with extra DNA, sometimes referred to as "junk DNA", whose function is unknown...