Gene Drive in the News
A curated collection of articles from the popular press
Mosquitoes spread malaria. These researchers want them to fight it instead
26948G. Brumfiel, NPR, 2023-07-20 08:45:44.
Mosquitoes carry malaria, which kills hundreds of thousands of people each year. Now some researchers are trying to use genetic engineering to make the pesky insects into allies in the fight against the disease. The approach is a radical departure from traditional ways of controlling malaria. For years, public health officials have tried to limit the disease by controlling mosquito populations. But that approach is temporary, says Anthony James, a professor of molecular biology and genetics at the University of California, Irvine. Because mosquitoes are extremely tough little insects, and their populations can quickly rebound. "To try to get rid of them, I don't think it's possible," he says. Instead, James and his colleagues want to try a different approach: making mosquitoes themselves into malaria-fighting warriors.
Mosquito-friendly gene drive may lead to a malaria-free future
26945Anonymous, LIFE TECHNOLOGY, 2023-07-19 08:23:51.
A gene drive is a genetic mechanism that allows a particular gene to spread rapidly through a population. In the case of malaria, scientists are working on developing a gene drive that would make mosquitoes resistant to the parasite that causes the disease. This would reduce the number of mosquitoes that can transmit the disease to humans. However, there are concerns about the use of gene drives. One potential issue is that the gene drive could spread beyond the intended population of mosquitoes and affect other species. Another concern is that the gene drive could have unintended consequences, such as creating new diseases or disrupting ecosystems. To address these concerns, scientists are developing a new type of gene drive that is "mosquito-friendly." This means that the gene drive would only affect mosquitoes that carry the malaria parasite, rather than all mosquitoes. This would reduce the risk of unintended consequences and help to ensure that the gene drive is effective in reducing the spread of malaria.
CRISPR’d Mosquitoes With All-Male Offspring Could Help Eradicate Malaria
26610V. B. Ramirez, Singuarity Hub, 2023-07-13 13:17:26.
Though at least one vaccine for malaria is in use, it remains one of the deadliest diseases in the world. Almost half of the world’s population lives in areas where malaria transmission occurs, and an estimated 619,000 people died of the disease in 2021. Worse yet, the vast majority of cases leading to death are in young children. Researchers from the University of California in San Diego may have found a way to reduce this burden of disease. They used the gene editing tool CRISPR to alter a gene that controls sexual development in mosquitoes. Male mosquitoes don’t bite humans; it’s the females that spread malaria and other diseases. The UCSD team’s method uses gene editing to kill all female mosquito offspring within a given population of the insects. The mosquito species in question is Anopheles gambiae, commonly called the African malaria mosquito and described as “the most efficient vector of human malaria.” They’re anthropophilic, meaning they like human blood more than animal blood, and they thrive in hot climates with a lot of moisture. Why such an insect exists in the first place is hard to comprehend, is it not?
New Study Improves Sterile Insect Technique for Mosquitoes
26600E. Ricciuti, Entomology Today, 2023-07-12 12:59:23.
As Florida health authorities work to respond to an ever-growing cadre of invasive tropical mosquitoes, a research team has sharpened an environmentally friendly tool increasingly deployed against a dangerous species that invaded the state two centuries ago. The mosquito is Aedes aegypti, vector of yellow fever, dengue fever, chikungunya, and Zika fever. It is one of the mosquitoes increasingly targeted with the sterile insect technique (SIT), in which male insects reared en masse are sterilized by gamma-ray or x-ray ionization and released to mate with wild females, which then produce non-viable eggs. Besides being environmentally innocuous, SIT is not hindered by insecticide resistance, a huge plus for pest managers. Long used against flies and other agricultural insect pests, SIT has shown promise against disease vectors such as mosquitoes, but a few wrinkles have kept it from reaching full potential. Research on Aedes aegypti described in a new study published in June in the Journal of Medical Entomology has smoothed the process, showing that the success of SIT can be measurably enhanced if male mosquitoes are sterilized when they emerge as adults, rather than as pupae, the approach now in use.
Mosquitoes made immune to malaria could help stamp out the disease
26614C. Wilson, NewScientist, 2023-07-10 13:29:44.
Mosquitoes have been gene edited so they are immune to the parasites that cause malaria. If released into the wild, the genetic modification should spread through a population of mosquitoes because it contains a sequence known as a “gene drive”, which means all the modified insects’ offspring would inherit the immunity. This approach could slash the numbers of malaria cases in people. Malaria is one of the world’s leading causes of death and ill health, taking a particular toll on young children in sub-Saharan Africa. Two vaccines have recently been developed, but they only give partial immunity. Other high-tech strategies against mosquito-borne diseases are under investigation, including gene drives that kill all mosquitoes in a targeted area. But these could have unpredictable effects on ecosystems, says Anthony James at the University of California, Irvine.
New Genetic Technology Developed to Halt Malaria-Spreading Mosquitoes
26473M. Aguilera, UC San Diego Today, 2023-07-05 08:09:31.
Fortunately, scientists are developing safe technologies to stop the transmission of malaria by genetically editing mosquitoes that spread the parasite that causes the disease. Researchers at the University of California San Diego led by Professor Omar Akbari’s laboratory have engineered a new way to genetically suppress populations of Anopheles gambiae, the mosquitoes that primarily spread malaria in Africa and contribute to economic poverty in affected regions. The new system targets and kills females of the A. gambiae population since they bite and spread the disease. Publishing July 5 in the journal Science Advances, first-author Andrea Smidler, a postdoctoral scholar in the UC San Diego School of Biological Sciences, along with former master’s students and co-first authors James Pai and Reema Apte, created a system called Ifegenia, an acronym for “inherited female elimination by genetically encoded nucleases to interrupt alleles.” The technique leverages the CRISPR technology to disrupt a gene known as femaleless (fle) that controls sexual development in A. gambiae mosquitoes.
Unleashing the swarm: Battling the global mosquito menace and defending public health
26467J. Entine and S. Moxon, Genetic Literacy Project, 2023-07-05 07:47:22.
There is one solution embraced by global health experts that should be pursued aggressively, if with some caution. Scientists in real-world trials have altered the genomes of entire animal populations, including mosquitoes, to thwart the vectoring of diseases and control pests — an innovation called gene drives. Emerging gene drive technologies offer enormous potential and have already shown their value in test projects in many parts of the world. More recently, the application of CRISPR/Cas9 tools has dramatically accelerated their effectiveness. But implementation on a wider scale is progressing at a snail’s pace. Why? For the most part, it is restrained by controversy, misunderstanding and the political opposition of activist environmental groups in Europe and North America.
Malaria Cases In U.S. Trigger Unfounded Claims About Bill Gates, Mosquito Project
26378B. Y. Lee, Forbes, 2023-07-01 07:03:59.
When the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an alert about finding four malaria cases in Florida and one malaria case in Texas, it created quite a buzz. After all, these were the first reported cases of people actually catching malaria in the U.S. since 2003. Finding these five cases has raised questions about whether malaria may return to the U.S. after being largely absent for many years and whether climate change may be opening the gates for Anopheles mosquitoes to spread in the U.S. That would kind of suck since the females of certain Anopheles mosquito species can carry and transmit malaria-causing parasites. This news also opened the gates in another way—allowing a flood of even more conspiracy theories about billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates to be spread across social media. This included claims that Gates was somehow responsible for these new malaria cases via a project that has released genetically-modified mosquitoes in the U.S. However, such claims really provided zzzzzero supporting evidence and, in fact, detracted from what’s really happened.
Scientists are Gene-Editing Flies to Fight Crop Damage
26310E. Mullin, WIRED, 2023-06-28 07:28:35.
In greenhouses in Oregon last month, researchers with the US Department of Agriculture began testing one such approach: sterilized male flies. The gene-edited bugs, made by St. Louis–based biotech company Agragene, are meant to suppress wild fly populations. The idea is that if they were to be released into the environment, the sterilized males would mate with wild females, resulting in a fertility dead end. “We see this technology as being able to provide healthier fruit and vegetables without doing a lot of harm to the environment,” says Agragene CEO Bryan Witherbee. Scientists at the company used the DNA editing tool Crispr to knock out two essential genes in fly embryos—one involved in male reproduction and another with female development. As a result, only sterile males hatch while the females die. “You don’t want to release females into the population, because those are the ones that are doing the damage,” says Stephanie Gamez, director of research and development at Agragene.
How genetically modified mosquitoes could eradicate malaria
26308S. Jones, Nature, 2023-06-28 07:16:33.
Malaria is caused by Plasmodium parasites that are transmitted from person to person by Anopheles mosquitoes — often Anopheles gambiae, the primary vector in sub-Saharan Africa. Many approaches to malaria control focus on mosquitoes. Insecticide-treated mosquito nets and indoor spraying of insecticides, for instance, have played a massive part in malaria reduction. But still it persists. “We’ve had great success over the past 20 years, using the bed nets and spraying, but those tools are not going to be enough to eliminate malaria,” says Gregory Lanzaro, director of the Vector Genetics Laboratory at the University of California, Davis. Many researchers, including Lanzaro, are hopeful that part of the solution lies in altering the genomes of Anopheles mosquitoes. Scientists around the world are exploring how to make lasting changes to mosquito DNA that impair the insects’ ability to transmit malaria — either by making them less hospitable hosts to Plasmodium, or by interfering with their reproduction to reduce or eliminate mosquito populations. Interventions of this kind have been in development for decades, but their use in the wild could be now just years away. Ecological and ethical concerns, however, about how these modified mosquitoes will be monitored, and by whom, remain the subject of active and contentious conversation.
Explained | The problem with India’s new guidelines on genetically modified insects
26274S. Naik, The Hindu, 2023-06-27 10:35:38.
India’s bioeconomy contributes 2.6% to the GDP. In April 2023, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) released its ‘Bioeconomy Report 2022’ report, envisioning this contribution to be closer to 5% by 2030. This ambitious leap – of $220 billion in eight years – will require aggressive investment and policy support. But neither funding for the DBT, India’s primary promoter of biotechnology, nor its recent policies reflect any serious intention to uplift this sector. Along with more money, policies that enable risk-taking appetite within Indian scientists will be required to create an ecosystem of innovation and industrial action. Funding for biotechnology India has been stagnating for a while. Despite a slight uptick during COVID-19, when DBT led the vaccine and diagnostics efforts, funding hasn’t returned to the pre-pandemic level. The current allocation is also only 0.0001% of India’s GDP, and it needs to be significantly revised if biotechnology is to be of any serious consequence for the economy.Funding aside, biotechnology policies also need to be aligned to the economic goals set out in the Bioeconomy report. However, the language in a set of guidelines that the Indian government released recently, pertaining to genetically edited insects, indicate a problem. In April 2023, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) issued the ‘Guidelines for Genetically Engineered (GE) Insects’. They provide procedural roadmaps for those interested in creating GE insects. They have three issues, however.
Nuclear Technique Used in Europe for First time to Battle Yellow Fever Mosquito Found in Cyprus
26314IAEA, IAEA, 2023-06-27 07:43:22.
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 mosquitoes found in the country.Cyprus confirmed the presence of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, also called Yellow Fever mosquito, on the island in 2022. This species of mosquito can carry serious vector-borne diseases such as chikungunya, dengue, yellow fever and Zika. The Aedes albopictus - also a carrier for such diseases - was also confirmed to be present on the island in 2022. Vector-borne diseases cause over 700,000 global deaths per year and the presence of the two species poses an immediate threat to Cyprus’ economy and healthcare system in case of a disease outbreak.
Draft environmental assessment released for using modified mosquitoes to save native birds on Kauaʻi
26244Anonymous, Big Island NOW, 2023-06-23 07:24:12.
Today, the draft environmental assessment was made public for the use of Wolbachia-based incompatible male mosquitoes on Kauaʻi to stop the spread of avian malaria that is decimating native forest bird populations. The public has 31 days — from June 23 until July 24 — to comment on the draft, which was released by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the State of Hawaiʻi Division of Forestry and Wildlife. Hawaiʻi’s forest birds are facing an extinction crisis, with avian malaria a major factor. It is transmitted by non-native mosquitoes and just a single bite from an infected mosquito can be deadly. Of Kauaʻi’s 16 native honeycreepers, 10 have gone extinct and three are listed under the Endangered Species Act as threatened or endangered.
To fight berry-busting fruit flies, researchers focus on sterilizing the bugs
25719M. Walling, KTAL News.com, 2023-06-13 09:42:56.
Paul Nelson is used to doing battle with an invasive fruit fly called the spotted wing drosophila, a pest that one year ruined more than half the berries on the Minnesota farm he and his team run. In recent years, they’ve cut their losses closer to 5%, but it’s been labor-intensive and expensive. “It’s a pest that if you’re not willing to stick the time into it, it’s going to take over your farm,” said Nelson, the head grower at Untiedt’s, a vegetable and fruit operation about an hour west of Minneapolis. Nelson and other growers may someday get a new tool as a result of research at North Carolina State University into the insects, which ruin the berries by laying their eggs in them and have been estimated to cost growers hundreds of millions of dollars annually. The researchers, using a concept called “gene drive,” manipulated the insects’ DNA so that the female offspring would be sterile, and the method they used to achieve it significantly reduced the chance that a population could rebound.
CRISPR/Cas9-based gene drive could suppress agricultural pests
25706North Carolina State University, Phys Org, 2023-06-12 10:22:37.
Researchers have developed a "homing gene drive system" based on CRISPR/Cas9 that could be used to suppress populations of Drosophila suzukii vinegar flies—so-called "spotted-wing Drosophila" that devastate soft-skinned fruit in North America, Europe and parts of South America—according to new research from North Carolina State University. The NC State researchers developed dual CRISPR gene drive systems that targeted a specific D. suzukii gene called doublesex, which is important for sexual development in the flies. CRISPR stands for "clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats" and Cas9 is an enzyme that performs like molecular scissors to cut DNA. CRISPR systems are derived from bacterial immune systems that recognize and destroy viruses and other invaders, and are being developed as solutions to problems in human, plant and animal health, among other uses. Targeting the doublesex gene resulted in female sterility in numerous experiments as females were unable to lay eggs, says Max Scott, an NC State entomologist who is the corresponding author of a paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that describes the research. "This is the first so-called homing gene drive in an agricultural pest that potentially could be used for suppression," Scott said. Gene drives can preferentially select, change or delete particular traits or characteristics and "drive" those edits through future generations, resulting in a sometimes far greater than 50% chance of passing those changes to progeny.
Generation game: gene-edited mosquitos to fight malaria
25551J. Opara, Sci Dev Net, 2023-06-07 08:44:49.
Population-level changes in the genetic make-up of one of the world’s deadliest animals could provide a key in the fight against malaria, proponents of a radical new technology argue. So-called gene drive technology, where genetic changes are passed down through generations, could rein in mosquito populations, or prevent them from passing on malaria.“Through genetic engineering, researchers have modified mosquitoes to favour the inheritance of genes that either will reduce the size of the population of those mosquitoes or stop them from transmitting the malaria parasite,” Michael Santos, senior vice-president and chief population health sciences officer at the US-based charity the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH), tells SciDev.Net. “In other words, [it is about] using mosquitoes to control mosquitoes.” Malaria is one of the world’s “big three” deadly diseases, killing over half a million people in 2021, the vast majority in Africa.
Oxitec Launches New Technology Program to Develop a Friendly™ Solution for the World’s Most Damaging Cattle Tick
25292Oxitec Ltd, Oxitec Press Release, 2023-05-24 07:45:30.
Oxitec Ltd, the leading developer of insect-based biological solutions to control pests that transmit disease, destroy crops and harm livestock, today announced the launch of development of a targeted, biological Friendly™ solution for the world’s most devastating cattle pest, the Asian blue tick, or Rhipicephalus microplus. In a feasibility project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Oxitec’s team validated the key methods for development of a Friendly™ R. microplus, and found that, for management of this dangerous tick, this biological approach is anticipated to provide a highly effective alternative to chemical pesticides. The Foundation has now committed $4.8 million to an early development phase to start to build the Friendly™ R. microplus solution, Oxitec’s first targeting a non-insect pest.
Render pests harmless – through genetic engineering CRISPR
25160Anonymous, Breaking Latest News, 2023-05-21 08:29:03.
Whether ants or wild bees: It is undisputed that insects are indispensable for functioning ecosystems and thus for the survival of mankind. In agriculture, however, certain species can become a nuisance. Even insecticides do not always help and also harm the environment. Researchers and companies are now pursuing a new strategy: Instead of treating plants, they want to defuse the harmful insects with the help of CRISPR gene scissors. “Before CRISPR/Cas, the technology to manipulate pests simply didn’t exist,” says Peter Atkinson, an entomologist at the University of California, Riverside, who works on modifying the invasive cicada species. “We are now entering a new era in which genetic control of the problem seems quite realistic.” It would not only be an alternative to the use of insecticides, but also a strategy to strengthen crop defenses through genetic engineering.
Scientists in Tahiti prepare to release sterilized mosquitoes to control dengue
26192F. Fouque, WHO TDR, 2023-05-16 12:42:52.
Scientists in Tahiti have launched a research project to test the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) in French Polynesia, where the impact of the technology on dengue transmission will be measured for the first time. This is part of a global research initiative supported by TDR, (the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to trial innovative, environmentally friendly solutions to disease control.
Genetically Engineered Mosquito experiment in California’s Central Valley halted
25147H. Bourque, Friends of the Earth, 2023-05-12 14:52:46.
In a victory for environmentalists, scientists and vulnerable agricultural communities across California, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) announced yesterday the withdrawal of a permit request for a mass release of experimental genetically engineered mosquitoes in the Central Valley. The withdrawal of the biotech corporation Oxitec’s request halts the controversial proposed release of billions of genetically engineered insects. Scientists and other experts in the field have raised concerns about Oxitec’s proposal to release genetically engineered mosquitoes due to inadequate scientific review and lack of appropriate and relevant regulations, pressuring the company to disclose data critical to assessing potential public health and environmental impacts.
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