S. H. Webster, M. R. Vella and M. J. Scott,
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences,
287:20192994.
2020.
Here we report the development and testing of a novel self-limiting gene drive system, Killer–Rescue (K–R), in Drosophila melanogaster. This system is composed of an autoregulated Gal4 Killer (K) and a Gal4-activated Gal80 Rescue (R). Overexpression of Gal4 is lethal, but in the presence of R activation of Gal80 leads to much lower levels of Gal4 and rescue of lethality. We demonstrate that with a single 2 : 1 engineered to wild-type release, K drives R through the population and after nine generations, more than 98% of the population carry R and less than 2% of the population are wild-type flies. We discuss how this simple K–R gene drive system may be readily adapted for population replacement in a human health pest, Aedes aegypti, or for population suppression in an agricultural pest, Drosophila suzukii.
https://www.geneconvenevi.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Proceedings-of-the-Royal-Society-B-5.png300300David Obrochta/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/GC-color-logo-for-header-3277-x-827-1030x260.pngDavid Obrochta2020-04-15 15:04:492020-04-29 15:13:00Development and testing of a novel killer–rescue self-limiting gene drive system in Drosophila melanogaster