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.
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A cross-sectional survey of biosafety professionals regarding genetically modified insects
Tags: Ethics, Other arthropods, Regulation, Risk and safetyO’Brochta, D. A., W. K. Tonui, B. Dass and S. James, Applied Biosafety, 2019:1-9. 2019.
Background:Genetic technologies such as gene editing and gene drive create challenges for existing frameworks used to assess risk and make regulatory determinations by governments and institutions. Insect genetic technologies including transgenics, gene editing, and gene drive ...
The potential for a released autosomal X-shredder becoming a driving-Y chromosome and invasively suppressing wild populations of malaria mosquitoes
Tags: Gene drive mechanisms, Gene drive synthetic, Genetic biocontrol, Malaria, Other arthropods, Replicator/site directed nuclease, Risk and safety, Sex distorter, X chromosome, Y-chromosomeAlcalay, Y., S. Fuchs, R. Galizi, F. Bernardini, R. E. Haghighat-Khah, D. B. Rusch, J. R. Adrion, M. W. Hahn, P. Tortosa and P. A. Papathanos, bioRxiv, 2019:860551. 2019.
Synthetic sex-ratio distorters based on X-chromosome shredding are predicted to be more efficient than sterile males for population suppression of malaria mosquitoes using genetic control. X chromosome shredding operates through the targeted elimination of X-chromosome-bearing ...
Plasmodium falciparum (Haemosporodia: Plasmodiidae) and O’nyong-nyong virus development in a transgenic Anopheles gambiae (Diptera: Culicidae) strain
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, Regulation, Replicator/site directed nuclease, Risk and safety, Y-chromosomeMumford, J. D., C. A. Long, S. C. Weaver, K. Miura, E. Wang, R. Rotenberry, E. M. Dotson and M. Q. Benedict, " Journal of Medical Entomology, 56:936-941. 2019.
ransgenic Anopheles gambiae Giles (Diptera: Culicidae) mosquitoes have been developed that confer sexual sterility on males that carry a transgene encoding a protein which cuts ribosomal DNA. A relevant risk concern with transgenic mosquitoes is that their capacity to transmit ...
Genetically engineering wild mice to combat Lyme disease: An ecological perspective
Tags: Evolution, Gene drive synthetic, Other mammals, RodentsSnow, A. A., BioScience, 69:746-756. 2019.
Genetic engineering of wild populations has been proposed for reducing human diseases by altering pathogens’ hosts. For example, CRISPR- based genome editing may be used to create white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus) that are resistant to the Lyme disease ...
What risk assessments of genetically modified organisms can learn from institutional analyses of public health risks
Tags: Regulation, Risk and safetyRajan, S. R. and D. K. Letourneau, Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology, 2012:8. 2019.
The risks of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are evaluated traditionally by combining hazard identification and exposure estimates to provide decision support for regulatory agencies. We question the utility of the classical risk paradigm and discuss its evolution in GMO ...
Design and analysis of CRISPR-based underdominance toxin-antidote gene drives
Tags: CRISPR, Gene drive, Gene drive synthetic, Genetic engineering, Modeling, Population modification/replacement, Population suppression, Toxin-antidote, UnderdominanceChamper, J., S. E. Champer, I. Kim, A. G. Clark and P. W. Messer, bioRxiv, 861435:861435. 2019.
CRISPR gene drive systems offer a mechanism for transmitting a desirable transgene throughout a population for purposes ranging from vector-borne disease control to invasive species suppression. In this simulation study, we model and assess the performance of several CRISPR-based ...
Disrupting female flight in the vector Aedes aegypti
Tags: Gene drive mechanisms, Gene drive synthetic, MosquitoesO'Leary, S. and Z. N. Adelman, bioRxiv, 862300:862300. 2019.
Aedes aegypti is a vector of dengue, chikungunya, and Zika viruses. Current vector control strategies such as community engagement, source reduction, and insecticides have not been sufficient to prevent viral outbreaks. Thus, interest in novel strategies involving genetic ...
Maintenance of fertility in the face of meiotic drive
Tags: Evolution, Other arthropods, Transmission distortionMeade, L., S. Finnegan, R. Kad, K. Fowler and A. Pomiankowsk, The American Naturalist, 2019:2019. 2019.
Selfish genetic elements that gain a transmission advantage through the destruction of sperm have grave implications for drive male fertility. In the X-linked SR meiotic drive system of a stalk-eyed fly, we found that drive males have greatly enlarged testes and maintain high ...
The analytical review on futuristic use of CRISPR-Cpf1 aided gene drive technology
Tags: Gene drive syntheticSatyam, R., N. Singh and T. Bhardwaj, International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development, 2:525-530. 2019.
Organisms edited by gene editing or traditional selective breeding are typically less able to survive and reproduce which effectively prevents those alterations from spreading in the wild populations. This paper focuses on how the CRISPR-Cpf1 system can be used to build a Gene ...
An assessment of the immune costs associated with meiotic drive elements in Drosophila
Tags: Evolution, Other arthropods, Transmission distortionLea, J. K. and R. L. Unckless, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 286:20191534. 2019.
Most organisms are constantly adapting to pathogens and parasites that exploit their host for their own benefit. Less studied, but perhaps more ubiquitous, are intragenomic parasites or selfish genetic elements. These include transposable elements, selfish B chromosomes and ...
Invasive insects: Management methods explored
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, Other arthropodsMcLaughlin, G. M. and P. K. Dearden, Journal of Insect Science, 19:1-9. 2019.
Invasive insect species can act as a plague across the globe, capable of vast expansion and rapid, proliferate reproduction. The spread of pathogens of serious diseases such as malaria and Zika virus and damages to agricultural crops number some of the afflictions invasive ...
Winning the tug-of-war between effector gene design and pathogen evolution in vector population replacement strategies
Tags: Evolution, Gene drive, Gene drive synthetic, Vector controlMarshall, J. M., R. R. Raban, N. P. Kandul, J. R. Edula, T. M. León and O. S. Akbari, Frontiers in Genetics, 10:1072. 2019.
While efforts to control malaria with available tools have stagnated, and arbovirus outbreaks persist around the globe, the advent of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)-based gene editing has provided exciting new opportunities for genetics-based ...
Identification and characterisation of a Masculinizer homolog in the diamondback moth Plutella xylostella
Tags: Gene drive, Gene drive mechanisms, Gene drive synthetic, Moths, Other arthropods, Population suppressionHarvey-Samuel, T., V. C. Norman, R. Carter, E. Lovett and L. Alphey, Insect Molecular Biology, 2019:2019. 2019.
Recently, a novel sex-determination system was identified in the silkworm (Bombyx mori) in which a piRNA encoded on the female-specific W chromosome silences a Z-linked gene (Masculinizer) which would otherwise initiate male sex-determination and dosage compensation. ...
A novel drug-inducible sex separation technique for insects
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, Other arthropodsKandul, N. P., J. Liu, A. D. Hsu, B. A. Hay and O. S. Akbari, bioRxiv, 2019:2019.12.13.875716. 2019.
Large sterile male releases are the gold standard for most insect population control methods and thus precise sex sorting is essential to the success of these technologies. Sex sorting is especially important for mosquito control because female mosquitoes bite and transmit ...
Gene drive and resilience through renewal with next generation Cleave and Rescue selfish genetic elements
Tags: CRISPR, Fruit fly, Gene drive, Gene drive synthetic, Selfish genetic elements, Toxin-antidote, UnderdominanceOberhofer, G., T. Ivy and B. A. Hay, bioRxiv, 2019:2019.2012.2013.876169. 2019.
Gene drive-based strategies for modifying populations face the problem that genes encoding cargo and the drive mechanism are subject to separation, mutational inactivation, and loss of efficacy. Resilience, an ability to respond to these eventualities in ways that restore ...
A bacterial gene-drive system efficiently edits and inactivates a high copy number antibiotic resistance locus
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, Other SymbiontsValderrama, J. A., S. S. Kulkarni, V. Nizet and E. Bier, Nature Communications, 10:5726. 2019.
Gene-drive systems in diploid organisms bias the inheritance of one allele over another. CRISPR-based gene-drive expresses a guide RNA (gRNA) into the genome at the site where the gRNA directs Cas9-mediated cleavage. In the presence of Cas9, the gRNA cassette and any linked cargo ...
Development of genetic control strategies for insect pests using CRISPR/Cas9 Développement de méthodes de lutte génétique contre de l’insecte nuisible basé sur le system CRISPR/Cas9
Tags: Anopheles, CRISPR, Gene drive synthetic, Gene editingE. Green, Université de Strasbourg, 2019.
nsect pest control remains an important economic, environmental, and public health challenge. CRISPR/Cas9 gene drive (GD) is a novel genetic control strategy. GDs are genetic systems that can rapidly invade a population. This manuscript presents my efforts to develop gene drives ...
Genetic Control of Mosquitoes
Tags: Gene drive mechanisms, Gene drive synthetic, Mosquitoes, Oxitec, Sterile insect technique (SIT), Toxin-antidote, Transmission distortion, Underdominance, X chromosome, Y-chromosomeAlphey, L., Annual Review of Entomology, 59:205-224. 2019.
Genetics can potentially provide new, species-specific, environmentally friendly methods for mosquito control. Genetic control strategies aim either to suppress target populations or to introduce a harm-reducing novel trait. Different approaches differ considerably in their ...
Community Engagement Prior to a Small-Scale Pilot of the Sterile Insect Technique in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa 2018
Tags: Africa, Anopheles, Stakeholder engagement, Sterile insect technique (SIT)P. N. Manana, J. Zikhali, D. Dlamini, S. Gumede, N. Mabaso, T. Mpungose and G. Munhenga, Journal of Public Health and Disease Prevention, 2. 2019.
Approximately 165 000 listeners were engaged during two 30 minute radio interviews at a local radio station. Two hundred and fifty farm workers, several outpatients from primary health care facilities and 1400 secondary school pupils were given education on malaria transmission ...
Mass-Rearing of Drosophila suzukii for Sterile Insect Technique Application: Evaluation of Two Oviposition Systems
Tags: Fruit fly, Genetic biocontrol, Sterile insect technique (SIT)F. Sassù, K. Nikolouli, S. Caravantes, G. Taret, R. Pereira, M. J. B. Vreysen, C. Stauffer and C. Cáceres, Insects, 10. 2019.
Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae) is an invasive pest of a wide range of commercial soft-skinned fruits. To date, most management tactics are based on spraying of conventional and/or organic insecticides, baited traps, and netting exclusion. Interest has been expressed ...

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