Scholarly Literature

This is a database of scholarly literature that concentrates currently on natural and engineered selfish genetic elements (gene drives).  The latest are shown here.
Disclaimer>

The role of toxin/antidote genes in the maintenance and evolution of accessory chromosomes in Fusarium

Tags: , ,
Linnea Sandell, Adrian Forsythe, Anna Mirandola, et al.,  Genetics,  231. 2025.
The genomic diversity of many fungal species is augmented by accessory chromosomes, which are variably present in individual strains. These genomic regions evolve rapidly, accumulating genes important in pathogenicity but also harbor a significant number of transposable elements. ...

Evolutionary persistence and divergence of the tdk killer meiotic driver family

Tags:
Fan-Yi Zhang, Guo-Song Jia, Jing-Yi Ren, et al.,  bioRxiv,  2025.
Killer meiotic drivers (KMDs) are selfish genetic elements that achieve super-Mendelian inheritance by selectively eliminating gametes lacking the driver. Although predicted to arise recurrently, KMDs are generally considered evolutionarily ephemeral—going extinct after ...

Wolbachia as a transformative tool for mosquito-borne disease control: a comprehensive review of mechanisms, efficacy, and future directions

Tags: , , , ,
Minaei, M. E., Yousefi Nojookambari, N., Ghodraty, M., & Yazdansetad, S.,  Pathogens and Global Health,  2025.
Mosquito-borne infectious diseases such as dengue, Zika, chikungunya, and malaria continue to pose significant public health challenges worldwide. Traditional control methods, including the use of insecticides and environmental management, have shown limited effectiveness due to ...

Analysis of a household-scale model for the invasion of Wolbachia into a resident mosquito population

Tags: , , ,
Barlow, A., Penington, S. & Adams, B.,  Journal of Mathematical Biology,  92. 2025.
In areas infested with Aedes aegypti mosquitoes it may be possible to control dengue, and some other vector-borne diseases, by introducing Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes into the wildtype population. Thus far, empirical and theoretical studies of Wolbachia release have tended to ...

A target product profile for a rapid diagnostic test to monitor mosquito gene drive presence and frequency

Tags: , , , , ,
Prateek Verma, Sebald Verkuijl, Calvin K. Yee, et al.,  bioRxiv,  2025.
Malaria remains a major global health challenge, with over 263 million cases and nearly 600,000 deaths reported in 2023, the majority in sub-Saharan Africa. While conventional interventions such as insecticide-treated nets, indoor residual spraying and antimalarial drugs have ...

Strategies to improve the efficiency of homing gene drives with multiplexed gRNAs

Tags: , ,
Chen, W., Wu, P. & Champer, J.,  BMC Biol,  24. 2025.
CRISPR homing gene drive holds great potential for pest control, but its success is challenged by the generation of resistance alleles through end-joining repair. Using multiple gRNAs to target adjacent sites within a conserved gene can prevent functional resistance by allowing ...

Improving Wolbachia-based control programs in urban settings: Insights from spatial modeling

Tags: , , ,
Florez D, Cortez R, Hyman JM, Qu Z,  PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases,  19. 2025.
Arboviral diseases remain a major public health concern, particularly in tropical and subtropical regions where mosquito populations thrive. One promising strategy to curb transmission is the release of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes infected with Wolbachia, a bacterium that reduces ...

Homing gene drive strains for genetic suppression of agricultural insect pests

Tags: , , , , ,
Yadav, Amarish K.; Tarrand, Ariel E.; Scott, Maxwell J.,  Entomologia Generalis,  45:1577 - 1590. 2025.
Agricultural insect pests cause substantial losses in crop productivity each year. Genetic-based strategies provide economical and environmentally friendly ways to limit pests that reproduce sexually. In contrast to conventional genetic methods (e.g. SIT), homing gene drives ...

A temperature-sensitive CRISPR-Cas12a system for sterile insect technique

Tags: ,
Nguyen, C., Omotayo, A.I., Sanz Juste, S. et al.,  Nature Communications,  16. 2025.
The sterile insect technique (SIT) reduces population numbers by releasing sterile males that produce non-viable progeny. Specifically, CRISPR/Cas9-based precision-guided SIT (pgSIT) generates sterile males through genetic crosses of two transgenic lines: a Cas9 strain and a ...

Variants in Cas9 and nanos regulatory elements modulate activity and reduce resistance allele formation in homing gene drive

Tags: , , ,
Ruizhi Zhou, Jie Du, Nicky R. Faber, Jackson Champer,  bioRxiv,  2025.
Gene drive is a novel approach for controlling vector borne disease via either population modification or suppression. Even with high efficiency, though, overall drive performance can be reduced by somatic Cas9 expression and by maternal deposition of Cas9, leading to resistance ...

Inhibiting invasive fish reproduction via germ cell xenotransplantation and hybrid lethality

Tags: ,
Amano, Y., Baba, H., Kishi, D. et al.,  Scientific Reports,  15. 2025.
Invasive alien fish constitute a major problem in the conservation of aquatic ecosystems. The most common method of exterminating invasive fish is physical capture by fishing gear; however, it is extremely difficult to eradicate them. Here, we developed a novel methodology to ...

Integrating mosquito genomics into simulation modeling: Opportunities for better-informed biocontrol

Tags: , , , ,
Gordana Rašić, John M. Marshall,  Current Opinion in Insect Science,  2025.
Mosquito-borne diseases remain a major global health burden, and novel biocontrol tools are quickly advancing from the laboratory to the field. Mathematical models play a central role in evaluating these interventions, yet their predictive accuracy depends on robust ...

Synthetic biology approaches to generate temperature-sensitive alleles for the Sterile Insect Technique

Tags: , ,
Chun Yin Leung, Ernst A. Wimmer, Hassan M. M. Ahmed,  Insect Science,  2025.
The Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) is an environmentally friendly, sustainable pest control approach, which uses large-scale releases of sterile insects to suppress or eradicate target populations through infertile matings. The efficiency of SIT is enhanced by male-only releases ...

Effect of male age at the time of irradiation on the sexual performance of sterile Ceratitis capitata males: insights from remating female offspring

Tags: , ,
Edwin Mauricio Ramírez-Santos, Pedro Alfonso Rendón Arana, et al.,  Insect Science,  2025.
The Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) is an effective strategy for controlling insect pests, such as the Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata, Wiedemann). The effectiveness of the SIT depends on the ability of the sterile males to mate and their capacity to induce sterility ...

Suitability of a chilled environmental box of the Precision X-RAD 320 cabinet style irradiator for the irradiation of mosquitoes and tsetse in the context of the sterile insect technique

Tags: , , ,
Hanano Yamada, Bénéwendé Aristide Kaboré, Samar Eisa, et al.,  Journal of Economic Entomology,  2025.
A cabinet-style small animal X-irradiator outfitted with an environmental chamber which can provide a consistent, chilled environment during irradiation was tested to sterilize the human and animal disease vectors Aedes aegypti Linnaeus (Diptera: Culicidae), Anopheles ...

Impact of long-term mass-rearing on the genetic structure of tsetse fly Glossina palpalis gambiensis colonies

Tags: , ,
Kiswend-sida M. Dera, Soumaïla Pagabeleguem, Tito Tresor Melachio Tanekou, et al.,  Insect Science,  32. 2025.
Tsetse flies are the sole cyclic vectors of African trypanosomes, which cause human and animal African trypanosomiases in Africa. Tsetse fly control remains a promising option for disease management. The sterile insect technique (SIT) stands as an environmentally friendly tool to ...

The nanosd integral gene drive enables population modification of the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae

Tags: , , , , ,
Pei-Shi Yen, Sebald A N R Verkuijl, Paolo Capriotti, et al.,  G3 Genes|Genomes|Genetics,  2025.
The modification of mosquito populations at scale through CRISPR-Cas9-mediated homing gene drives is a promising route for malaria vector control. Integral gene drives (IGDs) are designed to utilise the regulatory sequences of endogenous genes to reduce the size of the ...

SIT-ia: A Software-Hardware System to Improve Male Sorting Efficacy for the Sterile Insect Technique

Tags: , ,
de la Vega, G., Smith, L., Soria-Mercier, L., et al.,  Insects,  16. 2025.
This research addresses a challenge in using the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT), an eco-friendly pest control method. For SIT to work, only sterile male insects can be released, but sorting males from females by hand is slow and laborious. The study introduces a new automated ...

Highlight: Self-limiting gene drive suppresses malaria mosquitoes

Tags: , , ,
Gorm Palmgren,  CRISPR Medicine News,  2025.
Malaria claimed over 600,000 lives in 2022, with Anopheles gambiae serving as one of the most efficient vectors in sub-Saharan Africa, where approximately 96% of malaria deaths occur. The emergence of insecticide resistance threatens progress in disease control, prompting the ...

A male-drive female-sterile system for the self-limited control of the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae

Tags: , , , ,
Strampelli, A., Willis, K., Gulliford, H.R. et al.,  Nature Communications,  16. 2025.
Despite great leaps forward in preventing and treating malaria, several challenges, including insecticide resistance, have hindered progress in fighting the disease. Thus, there is a pressing need for new tools to control malaria, including the use of genetically modified ...

« First ‹ Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 14 104 118 Next › Last »