Scholarly Literature
This is an aggregation of scholarly literature from peer-reviewed journals, bioRxiv , medRxiv and arXiv preprint servers focused on natural and engineered selfish genetic elements and genetic biocontrol. New citations are added as they appear. This content is intended for anyone interested in the scholarly literature on gene drive and genetic biocontrol.
Procedurally Robust Risk Assessment Framework for Novel Genetically Engineered Organisms and Gene Drives
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, Gene editing, Genetically modified organisms, Governance, Policy, Risk assessmentKuzma, J., Regulation and Governance, 15:1144-1165. 2021.
In this article, a new framework for improving risk assessments of novel genetically engineered organisms (GEOs) is developed and applied. The Procedurally Robust Risk Assessment Framework (PRRAF) provides a set of principles and criteria for assessing and enhancing risk ...
CRISPR-based gene drives for combatting malaria: Need for an early stage technology assessment.
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, Policy, Regulation, Risk assessmentLiebert, W., AREA-WIDE INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT: Development and Field Application, 2021.
The potential power of CRISPR-based gene drives makes it necessary to engage in science and technology assessment already in early stages of research and development. In order to argue for efforts to address this urgent need, gene drives to combat malaria-transmitting mosquitoes ...
AREA-WIDE INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT: Development and Field Application
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, Incompatible insect technique, Sterile insect technique (SIT)Hendrichs, J. Pereira, R., Vreysen, M. J. B., AREA-WIDE INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT: Development and Field Application, 2021.
The concept of area-wide integrated pest management (AW-IPM), in which the total population of a pest in an area is targeted, is central to the effective control of such populations through the integration of genetic, biological and other pest suppression technologies. Insect ...
Synthetic sex ratio distorters based on CRISPR for the control of harmful insect populations
Tags: Chromosomal drive, Gene drive synthetic, Transmission distortion, Y-chromosomeFasulo, B., Meccariello, A., Papathanos, P. A., and Windbichler, N., AREA-WIDE INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT: Development and Field Application, 2021.
Since the overall reproductive output of a population is typically determined by the fertility of its females, which are rate-limiting in gamete production, a successful way to genetically control a population should involve artificially biasing the sex ratio towards males. In ...
Combined sterile insect technique and incompatible insect technique: concept, study design, experience and lessons learned from a pilot suppression trial in Thailand
Tags: Aedes, Cytoplasmic incompatibility, Incompatible insect technique, Sterile insect technique (SIT), WolbachiaKittayapong, P., AREA-WIDE INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT: Development and Field Application, 2021.
Climate change, rapid global transport and land use change leading to urbanization and agricultural intensification have facilitated disease emergence in vulnerable regions like Southeast Asia, and also the global expansion of vectors and vector-borne diseases into other regions ...
Barriers and facilitators of area-wide management including sterile insect technique application: The example of Queensland fruit fly
Tags: Genetic biocontrol, Incompatible insect technique, Policy, Stakeholder engagement, Sterile insect technique (SIT)Mankad, A., Loechel, B., and Measham, P. F., AREA-WIDE INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT: Development and Field Application, 2021.
The area-wide management (AWM) of highly mobile insect pests such as tephritid fruit flies requires an integrated understanding of technical, social and institutional processes that drive a coordinated approach within a defined area. Furthermore, the success of an AWM programme ...
Putting the sterile insect technique into the modern integrated pest management toolbox to control the codling moth in Canada
Tags: Moths, Sterile insect technique (SIT)Nelson, C., Esch, E., Kimmie, S., Tesche, M., and Philip, H. Arthur, S., AREA-WIDE INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT: Development and Field Application, 2021.
The Okanagan-Kootenay Sterile Insect Release (OKSIR) programme, in southern British Columbia, Canada, has been successfully applying the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) as part of a sustainable areawide integrated pest management (AW-IPM) programme to control the codling moth ...
Ecology, behaviour and area-wide control of the floodwater mosquito Aedes sticticus, with potential of future integration of the sterile insect technique
Tags: Aedes, Incompatible insect technique, Sterile insect technique (SIT)Lundstrom, J. O. Schafer, M. L. Kittayapong, P., AREA-WIDE INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT: Development and Field Application, 2021.
The strategy of aerial control of the floodwater mosquito Aedes sticticus (Meigen) in the floodplains of River Dalalven, central Sweden, was developed to directly address specific larval breeding areas in temporary flooded wet meadows and swamps. Using the Bti-based larvicide ...
Area-wide management of mediterranean fruit fly with the sterile insect technique in South Africa: New production and management techniques pay dividends
Tags: Africa, Fruit fly, Sterile insect technique (SIT)Venter, J. H., Baard, C. W. L., and Barnes, B. N., AREA-WIDE INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT: Development and Field Application, 2021.
A mass-rearing facility to produce sterile male Mediterranean fruit flies, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), for a Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) programme in the Hex River Valley in the Western Cape Province started in the late 1990s. The programme was initially underfunded and ...
The suppression of the False Codling Moth in South Africa using an AW-IPM approach with a SIT component
Tags: Africa, Genetic biocontrol, Sterile insect technique (SIT)N. Boersma, AREA-WIDE INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT: Development and Field Application, 2021.
The false codling moth, Thaumatotibia leucotreta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), is native to subSaharan Africa, where it infests various commercial, and wild, fruit-bearing plants. This major pest is not present in the Americas, Europe, and Asia, and therefore has ...
Wolbachia cifB induces cytoplasmic incompatibility in the malaria mosquito vector
Tags: Anopheles, Cytoplasmic incompatibility, Genetically modified mosquitoes, Mosquitoes, WolbachiaK. L. Adams, D. G. Abernathy, B. C. Willett, E. K. Selland, M. A. Itoe and F. Catteruccia, Nature Microbiology, 6:1575-1582. 2021.
Wolbachia, a maternally inherited intracellular bacterial species, can manipulate host insect reproduction by cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), which results in embryo lethality in crosses between infected males and uninfected females. CI is encoded by two prophage genes, cifA ...
Wolbachia reduces virus infection in a natural population of Drosophila
Tags: Arbovirus, Dengue, Fruit fly, Genetic biocontrol, Other Symbionts, WolbachiaR. Cogni, S. D. Ding, A. C. Pimentel, J. P. Day and F. M. Jiggins, Communications Biology, 4:1327. 2021.
Wolbachia is a maternally transmitted bacterial symbiont that is estimated to infect approximately half of arthropod species. In the laboratory it can increase the resistance of insects to viral infection, but its effect on viruses in nature is unknown. Here we report that in a ...
Propagation of seminal toxins through binary expression gene drives can suppress polyandrous populations
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, Modeling, Population suppression, Self limiting, Sex distorter, Toxin-antidoteJ. Hurtado, S. Revale and L. M. Matzkin, bioRxiv, 2021.11.23.469777. 2021.
Gene drives can be highly effective in controlling a target population by disrupting a female fertility gene. To spread across a population, these drives require that disrupted alleles be largely recessive so as not to impose too high of a fitness penalty. We argue that this ...
Tubulin post-translational modifications in meiosis
Tags: Transmission distortionT. Akera, Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology, 2021.
Haploid gametes are produced from diploid parents through meiosis, a process inherent to all sexually reproducing eukaryotes. Faithful chromosome segregation in meiosis is essential for reproductive success, although it is less clear how the meiotic spindle achieves this compared ...
Evaluation of Transgenic Aedes aegypti L. Strain in India: A Friendly Mosquito
Tags: Aedes, Dengue, Oxitec, Sterile insect technique (SIT)P. B. Patil, K. K. Yadav, S. K. Dasgupta, U. B. Zehr, S. R. Barwale and B. Char, Genetically Modified and other Innovative Vector Control Technologies, 2021.
Aedes aegypti L. is a primary vector of dengue and is also responsible for transmission of other arboviral diseases including chikungunya, yellow fever, and Zika virus worldwide. India is attributed with as much as 34% of the global burden of dengue infection as per the recent ...
Containment Strategies for Synthetic Gene Drive Organisms and Impacts on Gene Flow
L. Pei and M. Schmidt, GENE FLOW: Monitoring, Modeling and Mitigation, 2021.Gene drives, particularly synthetic gene drives, may help to address some important challenges, by efficiently altering specific sections of DNA in entire populations of wild organisms. Here we review the current development of the synthetic gene drives, especially those ...
Historical perspective and new avenues to control the myiasis-causing fly Cochliomyia hominivorax in Uruguay.
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, Genetic biocontrol, Sterile insect technique (SIT)Fresia P, Pimentel S, Iriarte V, Marques L, Durán V, Saravia A, Novas R, Basika T, Ferenczi A, Castells D, Saporiti T, Cuore U, Losiewicz S, Fernández F, Ciappesoni G, Dalla-Rizza M and M. A., Agrociencia Uruguay, 25:e974. 2021.
Mosca de la bichera’ or simply ‘bichera’ are common names given in Uruguay and the region to the primary myiasis-causing species Cochliomyia hominivorax, the New World Screwworm (NWS) fly (Diptera: Calliphoridae). Myiasis happens when dipteran larvae infest live animals at ...
A Household-Based Survey to Understand Factors Influencing Awareness, Attitudes and Knowledge towards Wolbachia-Aedes Technology
Tags: Dengue, Genetic biocontrol, Policy, Stakeholder engagement, WolbachiaL. T. Soh, Z. Ong, K. Vasquez, I. Chen, X. Li, W. Niah, C. Panchapakesan, A. Sheldenkar, S. Sim, L. C. Ng and M. O. Lwin, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18. 2021.
In 2016, Singapore introduced the release of male Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes to complement vector control efforts and suppress Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in selected study sites. With ongoing expansion of Project Wolbachia-Singapore to cover larger areas, a household-based survey ...
High-resolution in situ analysis of Cas9 germline transcript distributions in gene-drive Anopheles mosquitoes
Tags: Anopheles, CRISPR, Gene drive synthetic, Population modification/replacement, Population suppressionG. Terradas, A. Hermann, A. A. James, W. McGinnis and E. Bier, G3-Genes Genomes Genetics, 2021.
Gene drives are programmable genetic elements that can spread beneficial traits into wild populations to aid in vector-borne pathogen control. Two different drives have been developed for population modification of mosquito vectors. The Reckh drive (vasa-Cas9) in Anopheles ...
Transmission distortion and genetic incompatibilities between alleles in a multigenerational mouse advanced intercross line
Tags: Genetic incompatibilities, Rodents, Transmission distortionD. Arends, S. Kärst, S. Heise, P. Korkuc, D. Hesse and G. A. Brockmann, Genetics, 2021.
While direct additive and dominance effects on complex traits have been mapped repeatedly, additional genetic factors contributing to the heterogeneity of complex traits have been scarcely investigated. To assess genetic background effects, we investigated transmission ratio ...
Gene drives in malaria control: what we need to know
Tags: Ecology, Gene drive synthetic, Genetic biocontrol, Malaria, Policy, Risk and safetyR. Mudziwapasi, M. C. Changara, A. Ndudzo, T. Kaseke, F. Godobo, F. L. Mtemeli, R. Shoko, F. Songwe, S. Ndlovu and S. Sandra Mlambo, Biotechnology and Biotechnological Equipment, 35:1623-1631. 2021.
Gene drives are being used to enhance a DNA sequence?s likelihood of passing between generations via sexual reproduction. Gene drives can be deployed to manipulate natural populations. They can be used to suppress populations by reducing the number of individuals in a population ...
New developments in the field of genomic technologies and their relevance to conservation management
Tags: Biodiversity/Conservation, Gene drive synthetic, Genetic biocontrol, Genomics, Invasive speciesG. Segelbacher, M. Bosse, P. Burger, P. Galbusera, J. A. Godoy, P. Helsen, C. Hvilsom, L. Iacolina, A. Kahric, C. Manfrin, M. Nonic, D. Thizy, I. Tsvetkov, N. Veličković, C. Vilà, S. M. Wisely and E. Buzan, Conservation Genetics, 2021.
Recent technological advances in the field of genomics offer conservation managers and practitioners new tools to explore for conservation applications. Many of these tools are well developed and used by other life science fields, while others are still in development. ...
Molecular Mechanisms and Evolutionary Consequences of Spore Killers in Ascomycetes
Tags: Selfish genetic elements, Toxin-antidote, Yeast and FungiS. Zanders and H. Johannesson, Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews, 2021.
In this review, we examine the fungal spore killers. These are meiotic drive elements that cheat during sexual reproduction to increase their transmission into the next generation. Spore killing has been detected in a number of ascomycete genera, including Podospora, Neurospora, ...
High Temperature Cycles Result in Maternal Transmission and Dengue Infection Differences Between Wolbachia Strains in Aedes aegypti
Tags: Aedes, Cytoplasmic incompatibility, Dengue, Mosquitoes, Population modification/replacement, WolbachiaM. V. Mancini, T. H. Ant, C. S. Herd, J. Martinez, S. M. Murdochy, D. D. Gingell, E. Mararo, P. C. D. Johnson and S. P. Sinkins, mBio, e0025021. 2021.
Environmental factors play a crucial role in the population dynamics of arthropod endosymbionts, and therefore in the deployment of Wolbachia symbionts for the control of dengue arboviruses. The potential of Wolbachia to invade, persist, and block virus transmission depends in ...
Genetic control of invasive sea lamprey in the Great Lakes
Tags: Fish, Gene drive synthetic, Genetic biocontrol, Invasive species, Self limiting, Self sustainingD. Ferreira-Martins, J. Champer, D. W. McCauley, Z. Zhang and M. F. Docker, Journal of Great Lakes Research, 2021.
The invasive sea lamprey was a significant factor in the collapse of fish stocks in the Great Lakes, and it continues to threaten the multi-billion-dollar fishing industry. Thus, substantial resources are invested annually on sea lamprey control. Current control strategies have ...
Malaria modeling and optimal control using sterile insect technique and insecticide-treated net
Tags: Genetic biocontrol, Malaria, Modeling, Population suppression, Sterile insect technique (SIT)L. Cai, L. Bao, L. Rose, J. Summers and W. Ding, Applicable Analysis, 2021.
We investigate a malaria transmission model with SEIR (susceptible-exposed-infected-recovered) classes for the human population, SEI (susceptible-exposed-infected) classes for the wild mosquitoes and an additional class for the sterile mosquitoes. The basic reproduction number ...
The supernumerary B chromosome of maize: drive and genomic conflict
Tags: Agriculture, Chromosomal driveJ. A. Birchler and H. Yang, Open Biol, 11:210197. 2021.
The supernumerary B chromosome of maize is dispensable, containing no vital genes, and thus is variable in number and presence in lines of maize. In order to be maintained in populations, it has a drive mechanism consisting of nondisjunction at the pollen mitosis that produces ...
Temperature-Inducible Precision-Guided Sterile Insect Technique
Tags: CRISPR, Fruit fly, Sterile insect technique (SIT)N. P. Kandul, J. R. Liu and O. S. Akbari, CRISPR Journal, 14. 2021.
Releases of sterile males are the gold standard for many insect population control programs, and precise sex sorting to remove females prior to male releases is essential to the success of these operations. To advance traditional methods for scaling the generation of sterile ...
Population replacement gene drive characteristics for malaria elimination in a range of seasonal transmission settings: a modeling study
Tags: Anopheles, Field trials, Gene drive synthetic, Malaria, Modeling, Population modification/replacementS. Leung, N. Windbichler, E. Wenger, C. Bever and P. Selvaraj, bioRxiv, 2021.11.01.466856. 2021.
Genetically engineering mosquitoes is a promising new vector control strategy to reinvigorate the fight against malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa. Using an agent-based model of malaria transmission with vector genetics, we examine the impacts of releasing population-replacement gene ...
Centromere function in asymmetric cell division in Drosophila female and male germline stem cells
Tags: Fruit fly, Transmission distortionA. M. Kochendoerfer, F. Modafferi and E. M. Dunleavy, Open Biology, 11:210107. 2021.
The centromere is the constricted chromosomal region required for the correct separation of the genetic material at cell division. The kinetochore protein complex assembles at the centromere and captures microtubules emanating from the centrosome to orchestrate chromosome ...
Modeling the efficacy of CRISPR gene drive for schistosomiasis control
Tags: CRISPR, Gene drive synthetic, Modeling, Other invertebrates, Population modification/replacementR. E. Grewelle, J. Perez-Saez, J. Tycko, E. K. O. Namigai, C. G. Rickards and G. A. De Leo, bioRxiv, 2021.10.29.466423. 2021.
CRISPR gene drives could revolutionize the control of infectious diseases by accelerating the spread of engineered traits that limit parasite transmission in wild populations. While much effort has been spent developing gene drives in mosquitoes, gene drive technology in molluscs ...
Prevalence and molecular characterization of Wolbachia in field-collected Aedes albopictus, Anopheles sinensis, Armigeres subalbatus, Culex pipiens and Cx. tritaeniorhynchus in China
Tags: Aedes, Anopheles, Arbovirus, Culex, Population suppression, WolbachiaY. Yang, Y. He, G. Zhu, J. Zhang, Z. Gong, S. Huang, G. Lu, Y. Peng, Y. Meng, X. Hao, C. Wang, J. Sun and S. Shang, PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 15:e0009911. 2021.
Wolbachia are maternally transmitted intracellular bacteria that can naturally and artificially infect arthropods and nematodes. Recently, they were applied to control the spread of mosquito-borne pathogens by causing cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) between germ cells of females ...
Wolbachia goes to work in the war on mosquitoes
Tags: Aedes, Dengue, WolbachiaS. Ong, Nature, 598:S32-s34. 2021.
There are two approaches to tackling dengue with Wolbachia. The first involves releasing only modified male mosquitoes. Since 2015, this strategy has been successfully adopted in Singapore and Guangzhou, China, and in parts of the United States, such as Miami, Texas and ...
Alternatives for mammal pest control in New Zealand in the context of concerns about 1080 toxicant (sodium fluoroacetate)
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, Other mammalsB. Warburton, C. Eason, P. Fisher, N. Hancox, B. Hopkins, G. Nugent, S. Ogilvie, T. A. A. Prowse, J. Ross and P. E. Cowan, New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 43. 2021.
The ongoing use of 1080 toxin for the control of mammal pests in New Zealand remains highly contentious. Several reviews over the last 25 years identified information gaps and areas of concern, both social and scientific. In this paper these areas of concern are discussed and the ...
A decade of stability for wMel Wolbachia in natural Aedes aegypti populations
Tags: Arbovirus, Dengue, Oceania, Population modification/replacement, WolbachiaP. A. Ross, K. L. Robinson, Q. Yang, A. G. Callahan, T. L. Schmidt, J. K. Axford, M. P. Coquilleau, K. M. Staunton, M. Townsend, S. A. Ritchie, M.-J. Lau, X. Gu and A. A. Hoffmann, bioRxiv, 2021.10.27.466190. 2021.
Mosquitoes carrying Wolbachia endosymbionts are being released in many countries for arbovirus control. The wMel strain of Wolbachia blocks Aedes-borne virus transmission and can spread throughout mosquito populations by inducing cytoplasmic incompatibility. Aedes aegypti ...
RNA virome diversity and Wolbachia infection in individual Drosophila simulans flies
Tags: Arbovirus, Fruit fly, WolbachiaA. S. Ortiz-Baez, M. Shi, A. A. Hoffmann and E. C. Holmes, Journal of General Virology, 102. 2021.
The endosymbiont bacteria of the genus Wolbachia are associated with multiple mutualistic effects on insect biology, including nutritional and antiviral properties. Members of the genus Wolbachia naturally occur in fly species of the genus Drosophila, providing an operational ...
Containment Practices for Arthropods Modified with Engineered Transgenes Capable of Gene Drive Addendum 1 to the Arthropod Containment Guidelines, Version 3.2
Tags: Containment, Gene drive synthetic, Genetically modified mosquitoes, Mosquitoes, Policy, RegulationAmerican Committee of Medical Entomology, Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases, 2021.
Responsible conduct of research is a cornerstone of rigorous scientific discovery. Institutional committees, independent advisory panels, and expert steering groups are among the frameworks in academia meant to provide guidance and assurances that research activities do not ...
Genome Editing Tools and Gene Drives: A Brief Overview (1st ed.).
Tags: CRISPR, Gene drive synthetic, Gene editing, Policy, Risk and safetyR. Mudziwapasi, R. Chekera, C. Z. Ncube, I. Shoko, B. Ncube, T. Moyo, J. G. Chimbo, J. Dube, F. F. Mashiri, M. A. Mubani, D. Maruta, C. Chimbo, M. Masuku, R. Shoko, R. P. Nyamusamba and F. N. Jomane, CRC Press, 2021.
Genome-editing methods are becoming routine tools for molecular and cell biologists. Such tools include ZFNs, CRISPR, megaTALs and TALENs. These tools are revolutionizing the creation of precisely manipulated genomes to modify the characteristics of organisms or cells. ...
Positive selection and horizontal gene transfer in the genome of a male-killing Wolbachia
Tags: Genomics, Other Symbionts, WolbachiaT. Hill, R. L. Unckless and J. I. Perlmutter, Molecular Biology and Evolution, 2021.
Wolbachia are a genus of widespread bacterial endosymbionts in which some strains can hijack or manipulate arthropod host reproduction. Male killing is one such manipulation in which these maternally transmitted bacteria benefit surviving daughters in part by removing competition ...
Conditional knockdown of transformer in sheep blow fly suggests a role in repression of dosage compensation and potential for population suppression
Tags: Genetic biocontrol, Oceania, Population suppressionM. E. Williamson, Y. Yan and M. J. Scott, PLOS Genetics, 17:e1009792. 2021.
In the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster and in the mosquito Anopheles gambiae, a single gene (Sxl in D. melanogaster, fle in A. gambiae) controls the development of female-specific tissues and X chromosome dosage compensation, which is the equalization of X-linked gene products ...
Ecological vulnerability analysis for suppression of Drosophila suzukii by gene drives
Tags: Ecology, Fruit fly, Gene drive synthetic, Risk and safety, Risk assessmentC. R. Lalyer, L. Sigsgaard and B. Giese, Global Ecology and Conservation, 32:e01883. 2021.
Synthetic gene drives are transgenic constructs that aim to bias heredity and thereby influence the characteristics and fate of populations regarding abundance and evolution. Aside from irreversible effects in ecosystems that could be triggered by the release of a gene drive, ...
Gene drive and RNAi technologies: a bio-cultural review of next-generation tools for pest wasp management in New Zealand
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, Genetic engineering, Oceania, Policy, Population suppression, Regulation, Stakeholder engagementS. Palmer, P. K. Dearden, O. R. Mercier, A. King-Hunt and P. J. Lester, Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 1-18. 2021.
There is a global need for novel, next-generation technologies and techniques to manage pest species. We review work on potential step-changing technologies for large landscape (>1000 hectares) pest management of social Vespula wasps. We also review M?ori perspectives on these ...
A Maternal-Effect Toxin Affects Epithelial Differentiation and Tissue Mechanics in Caenorhabditis elegans
Tags: Other invertebrates, Selfish genetic elements, Toxin-antidote, Transmission distortionC. Lehmann and C. Pohl, Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, 9. 2021.
Selfish genetic elements that act as post-segregation distorters cause lethality in non-carrier individuals after fertilization. Two post-segregation distorters have been previously identified in Caenorhabditis elegans, the peel-1/zeel-1 and the sup-35/pha-1 elements. These ...
Novel Symbiotic Genome-Scale Model Reveals Wolbachia’s Arboviral Pathogen Blocking Mechanism in Aedes aegypti
Tags: Aedes, Arbovirus, Cytoplasmic incompatibility, Dengue, Population modification/replacement, WolbachiaN. E. Jiménez, Z. P. Gerdtzen, Á. Olivera-Nappa, J. C. Salgado and C. Conca, mBio, e0156321. 2021.
Arboviral diseases such as Zika and Dengue have been on the rise mainly due to climate change, and the development of new treatments and strategies to limit their spreading is needed. The use of Wolbachia as an approach for disease control has motivated new research related to ...
Modeling homing suppression gene drive in haplodiploid organisms
Tags: CRISPR, Gene drive synthetic, Modeling, Replicator/site directed nucleaseY. Liu and J. Champer, bioRxiv, 2021.10.12.464047. 2021.
Gene drives have shown great promise for suppression of pest populations. These engineered alleles can function by a variety of mechanisms, but the most common is the CRISPR homing drive, which converts wild-type alleles to drive alleles in the germline of heterozygotes. Some ...
Small-scale release of non-gene drive mosquitoes in Burkina Faso: from engagement implementation to assessment, a learning journey
Tags: Africa, Ethics, Gene drive synthetic, Genetically modified mosquitoes, Malaria, Policy, Stakeholder engagement, Target malariaL. Pare Toe, N. Barry, A. D. Ky, S. Kekele, W. Meda, K. Bayala, M. Drabo, D. Thizy and A. Diabate, Malaria Journal, 20:395. 2021.
This study provides a review of engagement activities relevant to field trials on non-gene drive genetically-modified mosquitoes as well as an assessment framework-using both qualitative and quantitative studies as well as an audit procedure. The latter was implemented to ...
Structural and mechanistic insights into the complexes formed by Wolbachia cytoplasmic incompatibility factors
Tags: Arbovirus, Cytoplasmic incompatibility, WolbachiaY. Xiao, H. Chen, H. Wang, M. Zhang, X. Chen, J. M. Berk, L. Zhang, Y. Wei, W. Li, W. Cui, F. Wang, Q. Wang, C. Cui, T. Li, C. Chen, S. Ye, L. Zhang, X. Ji, J. Huang, W. Wang, Z. Wang, M. Hochstrasser and H. Yang, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118. 2021.
Wolbachia bacteria, inherited through the female germ line, infect a large fraction of arthropod species. Many Wolbachia strains manipulate host reproduction, most commonly through cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI). CI, a conditional male sterility, results when Wolbachia-infected ...
Meiotic self-pairing of the Psalidodon (Characiformes, Characidae) iso-B chromosome: A successful perpetuation mechanism
Tags: Chromosomal drive, Fish, Selfish genetic elementsD. Silva, C. Araya-Jaime, M. Yamashita, M. R. Vidal, C. Oliveira, F. Porto-Foresti, R. F. Artoni and F. Foresti, Genetics and Molecular Biology, 44:e20210084. 2021.
B chromosomes are non-essential additional genomic elements present in several animal and plant species. In fishes, species of the genus Psalidodon (Characiformes, Characidae) harbor great karyotype diversity, and multiple populations carry different types of non-essential B ...
Spatial modelling for population replacement of mosquito vectors at continental scale
Tags: Africa, Anopheles, Gene drive synthetic, Modeling, Population modification/replacementN. J. Beeton, A. Wilkins, A. Ickowicz, K. R. Hayes and G. R. Hosack, bioRxiv, 2021.10.06.463299. 2021.
We explore transmission of the gene drive between the subspecies, different hybridisation mechanisms, the effects of both local dispersal and potential wind-aided migration to the spread, and the development of resistance to the gene drive. We find that given best current ...
Gene drive: a faster route to plant improvement
Tags: Agriculture, CRISPR, Gene drive synthetic, Gene editingH. A. Siddiqui, T. Harvey-Samuel and S. Mansoor, Trends in Plant Science, 2021.
Gene drives for control of vector-borne diseases have been demonstrated in insects but remain challenging in plants. Theoretically, they could be transformative in speeding breeding programs and contributing to food security through providing novel weed control methods. Zhang et ...
