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Problem-solving exercise: is hybridization promoting insecticide resistance in mosquitoes that transmit malaria?

User Max Meijer
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1 Answer

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The answer is yes. This has been observed in Mali where introgressesion of genes between Anopheles gambii and Anopheles coluzii, due to hybridization, led to a type resistant to treated mosquito nets. Hybridisation results to exchange of genes between species. A selective pressure (a force of Natural Selection)- in this case insecticides- causes the environment to select the most adaptive genes for survival of the species.
User QrystaL
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