Researchers develop temperature-controlled gene-editing method to potentially improve efforts to control disease-carrying insects
Researchers develop temperature-controlled gene-editing method to potentially improve efforts to control disease-carrying insects
Tags: CRISPR, Gene editing, Mosquito husbandry, Sterile insect technique (SIT)Caliann Ferguson, UT Health Houston School of Public Health, 2026.
New research presents promising results from an innovative technique that utilizes temperature control to genetically engineer sterile populations of insects, such as mosquitoes responsible for diseases like malaria, dengue, and other vector-borne illnesses. Led by researchers at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health, the Nature Communications publication leverages historical and traditional sterilization insect techniques (SIT) and applies an innovative method that can be scaled for larger population protection.
Used for decades, traditional SITs include releasing large numbers of sterile males into mosquito populations so that when they mate with wild females, no viable offspring are produced. CRISPR/Cas9-based methods have proven challenging as they require breeding two separate lines of engineered insects and carefully sorting those insects to produce and release only sterile males. Led by principal investigator Victor Lopez Del Amo, PhD, assistant professor of epidemiology, and Christina Nguyen, a research technician, who carried out most of the experiments, this promising method aims to simplify the traditional SIT by harnessing a gene-editing tool called CRISPR-Cas12a that can generate male sterility and female lethality in a temperature-controlled manner. Cas12a can be engineered to be inactive at lower temperatures and active at higher temperatures. This property enabled the team to develop a single genetically modified insect strain that possesses the genetic composition necessary to disrupt key fertility and reproductive genes.
