Drug Administration granted preliminary approval for the use of modified mosquitoes to prevent the spread of the Zika virus. Another proposed method consists in using radiation to sterilize male larvae so that when they mate, they produce no progeny. Male mosquitoes do not bite or spread disease. Using CRISPR/Cas9 based genome editing to engineer the genome of Aedes aegypti genes like ECFP (enhanced cyan fluorescent protein), Nix (male-determining factor gene), Aaeg-wtrw (Ae. aegypti water witch locus), Kmo (kynurenine 3-monoxygenase), loqs (loquacious), r2d2 (r2d2 protein), ku70 (ku heterodimer protein gene) and lig4 (ligase4) were targeted to modify the genome of Aedes aegypti. The new mutant will become incapable of pathogen transmission or result in population control. Infection with Wolbachia In 2016 research into the use of a bacterium called Wolbachia as a method of biocontrol was published showing that invasion of Ae. aegypti by the endosymbiotic bacteria allows mosquitos to be resistant to certain arboviruses such as dengue fever and Zika virus strains currently circulating. In 2017 Alphabet, Inc. started the Debug Project to infect males of this species with Wolbachia bacteria, interrupting the reproductive cycle of these animals. Fungus infection Fungal species Erynia conica (from the family Entomophthoraceae) infects (and kills) two types of mosquitos; Aedes aegypti and also, Culex restuans. Studies on the fungus have been carried out, on its potiential use as a biological control of the mosquitos. Taxonomy The species was first named (as Culex aegypti) in 1757 by Fredric Hasselquist in his treatise . Hasselquist was provided with the names and descriptions by his mentor, Carl Linnaeus. This work was later translated into German and published in 1762 as . Since the latter is an uncritical reproduction of the former, they are both considered to antedate the starting point for zoological nomenclature in 1758. Nonetheless, the name Aedes aegypti was frequently used, starting with H. G. Dyar in 1920. To stabilise the nomenclature, a petition to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature was made by P. F. Mattingly, Alan Stone, and Kenneth L. Knight in 1962. It also transpired that, although the name Aedes aegypti was universally used for the yellow fever mosquito, Linnaeus had actually described a species now known as Aedes (Ochlerotatus) caspius. In 1964, the commission ruled in favour of the proposal, validating Linnaeus' name, and transferring it to the species for which it was in general use. The yellow fever mosquito belongs