'Wolbachia method' is sometimes talked about with reference to which one of the following?
- (a) Controlling the viral diseases spread by mosquitoes ✓ UPSC's answer
- (b) Converting crop residues into packing material
- (c) Producing biodegradable plastics
- (d) Producing biochar from thermo-chemical conversion of biomass
Why the answer is (a)
• Wolbachia is a bacterium that lives naturally in many insects; when introduced into Aedes aegypti mosquitoes it blocks the replication of dengue, Zika, chikungunya and yellow-fever viruses inside them.
• The 'Wolbachia method' releases Wolbachia-carrying mosquitoes that breed with wild ones, spreading the bacterium through the population and cutting disease transmission — option (a).
• Trials by the World Mosquito Program in Indonesia cut dengue by about 77%; India's ICMR-Vector Control Research Centre in Puducherry has developed Wolbachia-infected Aedes strains.
• The method has nothing to do with crop residues, bioplastics or biochar.
• Hence option (a).
Why the other options are wrong
- (b) Converting crop residues into packing material
- Wolbachia is unrelated to crop-residue packaging.
- (c) Producing biodegradable plastics
- Bioplastics are made from other microbes and plants, not Wolbachia.
- (d) Producing biochar from thermo-chemical conversion of biomass
- Biochar is produced by pyrolysis, not by Wolbachia.
Asked in the GS Paper I of the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2023, held on 28 May 2023. Question and answer key: Union Public Service Commission. Explanation: UPSC Answer Check.