Featured Articles

Incorporating ecology into gene drive modelling

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J. Kim, K. D. Harris, I. K. Kim, S. Shemesh, P. W. Messer and G. Greenbaum,  Ecology Letters,  26:S62-S80. 2023.
Abstract Gene drive technology, in which fast-spreading engineered drive alleles are introduced into wild populations, represents a promising new tool in the fight against vector-borne diseases, agricultural pests and invasive species. Due to the risks involved, gene drives have ...

Millions of Mosquitoes Will Rain Down on Hawaii to Save an Iconic Bird

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S. Wild,  Scientific American,  2023.
Millions of mosquitoes dropped from helicopters could be the greatest hope for Hawaii’s iconic honeycreepers. At least four species of the brightly colored birds could go extinct within the year if no action is taken to save them. “We’re seriously in a race against time at ...

Measuring the Impact of Genetic Heterogeneity and Chromosomal Inversions on the Efficacy of CRISPR-Cas9 Gene Drives in Different Strains of Anopheles gambiae

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Pescod, Poppy Bevivino, Giulia Anthousi, Amalia Shelton, Ruth Shepherd, Josephine Lombardo, Fabrizio Nolan, Tony,  The CRISPR Journal,  2023.
The human malaria vector Anopheles gambiae is becoming increasingly resistant to insecticides, spurring the development of genetic control strategies. CRISPR-Cas9 gene drives can modify a population by creating double-stranded breaks at highly specific targets, triggering copying ...

Gene drives for invasive wasp control: Extinction is unlikely, with suppression dependent on dispersal and growth rates

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P. J. Lester, D. O'Sullivan and G. L. W. Perry,  Ecological Applications,  2023.
Abstract Gene drives offer a potentially revolutionary method for pest control over large spatial extents. These genetic modifications spread deleterious variants through a population and have been proposed as methods for pest suppression or even eradication. We examined the ...

Single-cell profiling of Anopheles gambiae spermatogenesis defines the onset of meiotic silencing and premeiotic overexpression of the X chromosome

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N. Page, C. Taxiarchi, D. Tonge, J. Kuburic, E. Chesters, A. Kriezis, K. Kyrou, L. Game, T. Nolan and R. Galizi,  Commun Biol,  6:850. 2023.
Understanding development and genetic regulation in the Anopheles gambiae germline is essential to engineer effective genetic control strategies targeting this malaria mosquito vector. These include targeting the germline to induce sterility or using regulatory sequences to drive ...

Proposed Changes to the NIH Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant or Synthetic Nucleic Acid Molecules (NIH Guidelines)

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National Institutes of Health,  Federal Register,  2023.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) seeks input on a proposal to revise the NIH Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant or Synthetic Nucleic Acid Molecules (NIH Guidelines) to include specific considerations and requirements for conducting research involving gene drive ...

wMel replacement of dengue-competent mosquitoes is robust to near-term change

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V. N. Vásquez, L. M. Kueppers, G. Rašić and J. M. Marshall,  Nature Climate Change,  13:848-855. 2023.
Rising temperatures are impacting the range and prevalence of mosquito-borne diseases. A promising biocontrol technology replaces wild mosquitoes with those carrying the virus-blocking Wolbachia bacterium. Because the most widely used strain, wMel, is adversely affected by heat ...

Cost-effectiveness of Precision Guided SIT for Control of Anopheles gambiae in the Upper River Region, The Gambia

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G. William, R. Robyn, M. Agastya, M. S. C. Hector, S. Andrea, Z. David, G. I. Patrick, D. Umberto, Alessandro, M. M. John and A. Omar,  bioRxiv,  2023.07.20.549762. 2023.
Precision-guided sterile insect technique (pgSIT) is an extremely promising vector control intervention that can reduce and potentially eliminate the unacceptable malaria burden, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Here we explore the cost effectiveness of using this approach in ...

Dual effector population modification gene-drive strains of the African malaria mosquitoes, Anopheles gambiae and Anopheles coluzzii

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R. Carballar-Lejarazú, Y. Dong, T. B. Pham, T. Tushar, R. M. Corder, A. Mondal, H. M. Sánchez C, H.-F. Lee, J. M. Marshall, G. Dimopoulos and A. A. James,  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,  120:e2221118120. 2023.
Proposed genetic approaches for reducing human malaria include population modification, which introduces genes into vector mosquitoes to reduce or prevent parasite transmission. We demonstrate the potential of Cas9/guide RNA (gRNA)?based gene-drive systems linked to dual ...

Nuclear Technique Used in Europe for First time to Battle Yellow Fever Mosquito Found in Cyprus

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IAEA,  IAEA,  2023.
Cyprus this month released the first batch of 100,000 sterile mosquitos to begin the implementation of a Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) project testing the use of a nuclear technique to eradicate an invasive species of ...

Draft environmental assessment for use of Wolbachia-based incompatible insect technique for the suppression of nonnative southern house mosquito populations on Kauaʻi

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Hawai'i Department of Land and Natural Resources,  Hawai'i Department of Land and Natural Resources,  2023.
The State of Hawai'i Department of Land and Natural Resources hereby transmits the Draft Environmental Assessment and Anticipated Finding of No Significant Impact (DEAEnvironmental Assessment for use of Wolbachia-based Incompatible Insect Technique for the suppression of ...

CRISPR/Cas9-based split homing gene drive targeting doublesex for population suppression of the global fruit pest Drosophila suzukii

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A. K. Yadav, C. Butler, A. Yamamoto, A. A. Patil, A. L. Lloyd and M. J. Scott,  Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A,  120:e2301525120. 2023.
Genetic-based methods offer environmentally friendly species-specific approaches for control of insect pests. One method, CRISPR homing gene drive that target genes essential for development, could provide very efficient and cost-effective control. While significant progress has ...

Molecular Biology of Cytoplasmic Incompatibility Caused by Wolbachia Endosymbionts

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M. Hochstrasser,  Annual Review of Microbiology,  2023.
Among endosymbiotic bacteria living within eukaryotic cells, Wolbachia is exceptionally widespread, particularly in arthropods. Inherited through the female germline, it has evolved ways to increase the fraction of bacterially infected offspring by inducing parthenogenesis, ...

An economic evaluation of Wolbachia deployments for dengue control in Vietnam

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H. C. Turner, D. L. Quyen, R. Dias, P. T. Huong, C. P. Simmons and K. L. Anders,  PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases,  17:e0011356. 2023.
INTRODUCTION: Dengue is a major public health challenge and a growing problem due to climate change. The release of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes infected with the intracellular bacterium Wolbachia is a novel form of vector control against dengue. However, there remains a need to ...

The optimal strategy of incompatible insect technique (IIT) using Wolbachia and the application to malaria control

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T. Matsufuji and S. Seirin-Lee,  Journal of Theoretical Biology,  569:111519. 2023.
For decades, techniques to control vector population with low environmental impact have been widely explored in both field and theoretical studies. The incompatible insect technique (IIT) using Wolbachia, based on cytoplasmic incompatibility, is a technique that ...

The boundary problem: Defining and delineating the community in field trials with gene drive organisms

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N. de Graeff, I. Pirson, R. van der Graaf, A. L. Bredenoord and K. R. Jongsma,  Bioethics,  2023.
Despite widespread and worldwide efforts to eradicate vector-borne diseases such as malaria, these diseases continue to have an enormous negative impact on public health. For this reason, scientists are working on novel control strategies, such as gene drive technologies (GDTs). ...

Targeting Sex Determination to Suppress Mosquito Populations

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L. Ming, P. K. Nikolay, S. Ruichen, Y. Ting, D. B. Elena, J. B. Daniel, A. Igor, M. S. C. Hector, Z. Yinpeng, A. D. Nicolas, M. L. YuMin, P. S. Matthew, M. Craig, M. M. John and S. A. Omar,  bioRxiv,  2023.04.18.537404. 2023.
Each year, hundreds of millions of people are infected with arboviruses such as dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya, and Zika, which are all primarily spread by the notorious mosquito Aedes aegypti. Traditional control measures have proven insufficient, necessitating innovations. ...

First transgenic mosquito made in Africa by Transmission Zero

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H. Dunning,  Imperial College London,  2023.
Transmission Zero, a global scientific programme led by scientists at Imperial College London and the Ifakara Health Institute (IHI) of Tanzania, in partnership with the Tanzanian National Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), announces the generation of the first transgenic ...

A gene drive is a gene drive: the debate over lumping or splitting definitions

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S. L. James, D. A. O'Brochta, F. Randazzo and O. Akbari,  Nature Communications,  2023.
Gene drive technologies are being considered as a new approach to address a variety of currently intractable global problems, including to prevent disease transmission, reduce crop loss, and preserve biodiversity1. There are some outside the genetics research community who argue ...

Synthetic gene drives as an anthropogenic evolutionary force

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A. D. Cutter,  Trends in Genetics,  2023.
Genetic drive represents a fundamental evolutionary force that can exact profound change to the genetic composition of populations by biasing allele transmission. Herein I propose that the use of synthetic homing gene drives, the human-mediated analog of endogenous genetic ...

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