Oxitec [SEP] industry
Oxitec
Oxitec (orig. Oxford Insect Technologies) is a British biotechnology company which develops genetically modified insects to assist in insect control. The company develops methods for control of insect populations, in which genetically modified insects are used as a "living insecticide". Thereby, insects which transmit disease to humans or which occur as pests in agriculture are controlled without the use of insecticides. According to the company, this method of population control is more effective than insecticides and more environmentally friendly. The method has similarities to sterile insect
additional mating cycles that further reduce the pest population. This function is time-limited. In subsequent generations fewer and fewer males pass on their self-limiting genes. OX5034 males were expected to disappear from the environment 10 generations after releases stop.
Transgenic yellow fever mosquito.
Oxitec is working to develop a genetically modified version of "Aedes aegypti" to help control the transmission of mosquito-borne diseases. Oxitec created genetically altered males of the species (OX513A) that produce the protein tTA, which negatively affects cell