Getting rid of mosquitos assists in getting rid of Malaria, Which wikipedia says killed about 405,000 people in 2018.
1)putting mosquitos into such a deep sleep they starve or expire from dehydration with zeptogram doses of opiate peptides:
You can get an entire rat to fall asleep/get high with 700 picograms (700 trillionth of 1 gram) of a peptide that imitates opiates (an opiate peptide). Opiate peptides are published as working on insects. One possible statement of the dose of an opiate peptide to make a mosquito fall asleep so long it starves to death/dehyradtes too much to live is 1 millionth of the mass of a 1 nanogram rat dose. That is near a zeptogram or attogram per mosquito. so, kind of near 10^-18 grams as a mosquito dose.
At lower exposures the mosquito might just get disoriented, and be too intoxicated to figure out food-source sensing.
Another peptide, which is where this idea is new, is a custom peptide that disables CO2 sensing at mosquitos.
Mosquitos have CO2 and other chemoreceptors, I think this tactic works especially well with a certain kind of receptor, but it likely works on other types of receptors as well: It is published practice to make a peptide customized to Nestle-In to the nonreceptor tail of a GCPR and change the amount of receptivity of the receptor. It is possible to turn off the receptor this way.
A CO2 receptor tail nestling peptide that complements/attaches to the CO2 receptor is determined with software then screened as a library of variants to find one that works.
So, that is the new peptide, a tail-nestling peptide that turns off CO2 and one that turns off vision receptors at mosquitos. These peptides would be attached to CPP (cell penetrating peptides) for even more efficient dose potency.
Getting the mosquitos to land on the new, wet-style peptides :
New mosquito attractants have been found. As an object at the dwelling, a cheap surface like a cloth or tyvek-felt or as a window/screen spray the combination peptide-CPP + attractant would also be present and the zeptogram active dose would absorb through the mosquitos' feet
They can absorb through the mosquitos feet, because the mosquitos feet are standing on gel or moist cloth.
New to me is making an insecticide peptide or amino acid that is deliquescent (turn to puddle from water in the air). The cosmetic amino acid ingreadient NaPCA turns to a puddle of water when left out in the air. Putting some NaPCA amino acids on the opiate peptide/CO2-blocker/Vision blocker peptides causes them to be liquid, increasing their absorbability 2-16 times.
So CPP-NaPCA-active peptide is a possible very cheap linear structure, but they could also try it with the CPP and NaPCA on separate branched from the drug peptide. as Three branches on a +
The cost is miniscule. The octapeptide oxytocin is $40/Kg at alibaba, so if the full branched 19-24 amino acid is used it could be $480/Kq, enough to administer several quadrillion doses. Because the CPP-peptide dose is is so minute it has no effect if eaten by a human, it can (without NaPCA) be used as a printing ink, eventually making its way to be trash laying around the dwelling, new items at the dwelling, and Trash that in some locations is out of doors
With NaPCA the moist version could be on a purpose built mosquito terminating polymer film or object for less than 1/10th of a cent per sizeable polymer film object. Actually you might want to go for the polymer "pastry retrieval tissue" at the grocery as a model, I perceive these are 1/1000th of a cent or less. (A peel off sticker is 1/1000th of 1 cent)-- beanangel, Jan 13 2021 Peppered moth https://en.wikipedi.../wiki/Peppered_mothHot stuff ? [8th of 7, Jan 17 2021] A little dove https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duyfkenused for hunting pepper in the wild [pertinax, Jan 17 2021] Actually, if areas with malaria have low denomination currency, they could put a CPP-peptide coating on currency bills, people could do the equivalent of putting up a $1 on their wall. A local currency bill is easy to get, circulates everywhere, unlikely to be thrown away, and big enough for a comic strip with instructions on one side.-- beanangel, Jan 13 2021 I miss our resident biochemist. Can anyone step up to the plate? This looks like an incredible idea to me but I know two things about biochemistry at this level and one of them is jack.-- Voice, Jan 13 2021 >400 million people in 2018.
thousand-- Cuit_au_Four, Jan 13 2021 "thousand" [Cuit_au_Four] You are absolutely right, 405,000 deaths in 2018 from malaria, updated.-- beanangel, Jan 13 2021 But the vast majority of those deaths are of impoverished, dark-skinned people in far-away hot countries, so can you give us something a bit more promising for a pitch to the venture capitalists ?-- 8th of 7, Jan 13 2021 [Voice] I miss him too! even if I didn’t understand the subject it was well written and well explained. Every time I look at one of[beanangel]’s ideas... I really even try to read it, but it is so hard to understand and make sense of such long paragraphs and swirling English. i’ve often just wanted to ask for help with his posts-- xandram, Jan 13 2021 // English //
Oh, is THAT what it's meant to be ?-- 8th of 7, Jan 13 2021 //I miss our resident biochemist. Can anyone step up to the plate?//
Well, I'm more of a biochemist than our esteemed and much missed colleague.
There's a lot of steps in here, but, fundamentally the basic mechanism(s) should be feasible. Where the problems occur is in avoiding the oodles of possible failures along the way.
Firstly, peptides aren't very good at this sort of thing. The world is full of proteases - viruses have protein coats and so all life is interested in defending itself. Your skin, for example will have a good amount of protease activity. Then there's the microbial world which is quite happy to consume random protein as a food source. There is a lot of microbial activity. This is not necessarily a downside, humanity is realizing the drawbacks of things that last a long time in the environment. But, it does mean that the active agent will start falling from the very beginning.
Next up, how do peptides function as drugs? Very variable. On the plus side, the target is a sensory organ, it is deliberately presented to the environment. But, you'd have to test carefully.
I suspect it could be made to work well in a small box in a lab at high concentrations (there are a million papers pulling this trick: "harmless sounding compound x kills colon cancer! Humanity saved" Or "Epic concentrations of harmless compound x kills (statistically speaking) one specific colon cancer cell line"). Getting it to work in the environment would be the trick.
Next up is specificity. If the peptide has any off target effects (which it will), then you're screwed. If you wipe out mosquitoes but also impact the breeding behavior of the Great Horned Hatchet Beetle Louse it's a non-starter. Remember, we banned DDT for thinning the egg shells of predatory birds. Not even as far as proving it caused significant decline in numbers, just the shell thinning. So we banned it. Think of that, because DDT is not specific enough, and causes some shell thinning, we trade ~1/2 million live PER YEAR for the ban. I mean, there are some mitigating factors, like resistance, but still.
There are some tricks being pulled along the same lines, a butanedione, (small, cheap, relatively harmless chemical) works to inhibit CO2 reception in mosquitoes, studies in that direction could help.-- bs0u0155, Jan 13 2021 // we trade ~1/2 million live PER YEAR for the ban. //
// the vast majority of those deaths are of impoverished, dark-skinned people in far-away hot countries //
Ahem.-- 8th of 7, Jan 13 2021 // oodles of possible failures along the way //
[marked for tagline]-- whatrock, Jan 14 2021 [bs0u0155] Thanks for your explanatory annotation.
How did it go with the SSD in the cryogenic treatment freezer? I'm really wondering and would be happy to send you some LEDs/laser diodes if you would like to test those.-- beanangel, Jan 14 2021 SSD info request seconded. Also can you send them in for some microscopic images?-- Voice, Jan 15 2021 Whatever your solution to mosquitos you'll be selecting against the vulnerable populations. Maybe find a chemical in human breath that's not not common to most other animals? Then find away to select against seekers of that chemical without making the mosquito significantly less likely to reproduce.
Or just carpet bomb Brazil with DDT-- Voice, Jan 15 2021 // a chemical in human breath that's not not common to most other animals? //
Nicotine ? THC ?
Maybe there's a short-chain amino acid polymer you could use ... ?-- 8th of 7, Jan 15 2021 Any variant of capsaicin, (why does capsaicin flag as a misspelling?), should do.
How many critters naturally seek out pepper?-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jan 17 2021 ...and yep, I guessed the author by the title as did many of us [beanster].-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jan 17 2021 // How many critters naturally seek out pepper? //
At least one species. <link>-- 8th of 7, Jan 17 2021 Ah but what's in a name?-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jan 17 2021 We presume that your question is rhetorical; perhaps you will be good enough to enlighten the class ? Or rather, [Voice], who seems to be the only one who is currently both awake, and paying attention.-- 8th of 7, Jan 17 2021 Certainly. Peppered moths don't seek out pepper, and for disambiguation by 'pepper' I mean 'capsaicin'.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jan 17 2021 // peppered moths don't seek out pepper, //
So what do they use to hunt pepper in the wild, then ? Foxhounds chase foxes, boarhounds chase boar, bloodhounds follow the scent of blood.
And if peanut oil comes from crushing peanuts, and lavender oil from steam-distilling lavender flowers, where does baby oil come from ?-- 8th of 7, Jan 17 2021 //So what do they use to hunt pepper in the wild, then ?//
Shallow- draft barques (see link).
Sometimes, when hunting for one thing, you stumble on something else. In this case, Australia.-- pertinax, Jan 18 2021 Terrible mistake to make...-- 8th of 7, Jan 18 2021 Of course, a pepper- hunting hound would have a shallow- draft bark, so as not to inhale too much pepper.-- pertinax, Jan 18 2021 <Duchess>
"Speak roughly to your little dog, and beat him when he sneezes! He only does it to annoy, because he knows it teases!"
</Duchess>-- 8th of 7, Jan 18 2021 //pepper// I don't know how to pep-- pocmloc, Jan 18 2021 //Nicotine ? THC ? // That's an interesting thought. It doesn't have to be something people naturally all consume. It could be any arbitrary chemical with attributes: Not terribly toxic to anyone, easily detected in small quantities, not eaten by wildlife-- Voice, Jan 20 2021 What about garlic then, or its derivatives ?-- 8th of 7, Jan 20 2021 You'll positively kill the birth rate.-- Voice, Jan 20 2021 Explain how that would be a bad thing, please.-- 8th of 7, Jan 20 2021 // Explain how that would be a bad thing, please.//
Premise 1: According to the Borg, humans are bad for humans.
Premise 2: According to the Borg, humans are bad.
Ergo more humans to be bad for humans is a good thing according to the Borg. Reducing birth rate means fewer people to be bad for people. QED-- Voice, Jan 20 2021 You neglect
Premise 3: According to the Borg, small humans are not just bad, but very much more unpleasant than large humans.-- 8th of 7, Jan 20 2021 random, halfbakery