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.
Genome engineering in insects for the control of vector borne diseases
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, Genetic biocontrol, Genetically modified mosquitoesV. E. Hillary and S. A. Ceasar, Progress in Molecular Biology and Translational Science, 179:197-223. 2021.
Insects cause many vector-borne infectious diseases and have become a major threat to human health. Although many control measures are undertaken, some insects are resistant to it, exacerbated by environmental changes which is a major challenge for control measures. Genetic ...
Towards CRISPR/Cas9-based gene drive in the diamondback moth Plutella xylostella
Tags: CRISPR, Gene drive synthetic, MothsX. Xu, T. Harvey-Samuel, H. Siddiqui, J. Ang, M. A. E. Anderson, C. Reitmayer, E. Lovett, P. T. Leftwich, M. You and L. Alphey, bioRxiv, 2021.10.05.462963. 2021.
Promising to provide powerful genetic control tools, gene drives have been constructed in multiple dipterans, yeast and mice, for the purposes of population elimination or modification. However, it remains unclear whether these techniques can be applied to lepidopterans. Here, we ...
Releasing incompatible males drives strong suppression across populations of wild and Wolbachiat-carrying Aedes aegypti in Australia
Tags: Aedes, Genetic biocontrol, Incompatible insect technique, OceaniaN. W. Beebe, D. Pagendam, B. J. Trewin, A. Boomer, M. Bradford, A. Ford, C. Liddington, A. Bondarenco, P. J. De Barro, J. Gilchrist, C. Paton, K. M. Staunton, B. Johnson, A. J. Maynard, G. J. Devine, L. E. Hugo, G. Rasic, H. Cook, P. Massaro, N. Snoad, J., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118:e2106828118. 2021.
Through replicated treatment and control experiments in northern Australia, regular releases of Aedes aegypti males infected with a Wolbachia from Aedes albopictus was shown to drive strong population suppression in mosaic populations of wild-type (no Wolbachia) and ...
Investigation of Developmental Stage/Age, Gamma Irradiation Dose, and Temperature in Sterilization of Male Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) in a Sterile Insect Technique Program
Tags: Aedes, Genetic biocontrol, Sterile insect technique (SIT)B. Ernawan, T. Anggraeni, S. Yusmalinar and I. Ahmad, Journal of Medical Entomology, 59:320-327. 2021.
The sterilization process using gamma irradiation is a crucial component in a program using sterile insect technique (SIT) to control Aedes aegypti. Unfortunately, there is no efficient standard protocol for sterilizing mosquitoes that can produce a high level of ...
Sexual selection can partly explain low frequencies of Segregation Distorter alleles
Tags: Fruit fly, Transmission distortionT. A. Keaney, T. M. Jones and L. Holman, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 288:20211190. 2021.
The Segregation Distorter (SD) allele found in Drosophila melanogaster distorts Mendelian inheritance in heterozygous males by causing developmental failure of non-SD spermatids, such that greater than 90% of the surviving sperm carry SD. This within-individual advantage should ...
Life Table of Bactrocera zonata (Saunders) (Diptera: Tephritidae) for Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) in Mauritius
Tags: Africa, Sterile insect technique (SIT)R. D. Bhoyroo, S. Facknath and P. Sookar, African Entomology, 29:361-369. 2021.
Fruit flies (Tephritidae) have been reported to be a serious pest worldwide. In Mauritius, the major fruit fly species of economic and quarantine importance in agricultural production are Bactrocera zonata (Saunders), Zeugodacus cucurbitae (Coquillett) and Bactrocera dorsalis ...
A single mutation weakens symbiont-induced reproductive manipulation through reductions in deubiquitylation efficiency
Tags: Cytoplasmic incompatibility, Genetic biocontrol, WolbachiaJ. F. Beckmann, K. Van Vaerenberghe, D. E. Akwa and B. S. Cooper, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118:e2113271118. 2021.
We show that a single naturally observed mutation weakens CI by reducing deubiquitylation. These discoveries help elucidate the molecular basis of symbiont-induced reproductive manipulations.Animals interact with microbes that affect their performance and fitness, including ...
Microsporidia MB is found predominantly associated with Anopheles gambiae s.s and Anopheles coluzzii in Ghana
Tags: Malaria, Other SymbiontsJ. Akorli, E. A. Akorli, S. N. A. Tetteh, G. K. Amlalo, M. Opoku, R. Pwalia, M. Adimazoya, D. Atibilla, S. Pi-Bansa, J. Chabi and S. K. Dadzie, Scientific Reports, 11:5. 2021.
A vertically transmitted microsporidian, Microsporidia MB, with the ability to disrupt Plasmodium development was reported in Anopheles arabiensis from Kenya, East Africa. To demonstrate its range of incidence, archived DNA samples from 7575 Anopheles mosquitoes collected from ...
Discrete dynamical models on Wolbachia infection frequency in mosquito populations with biased release ratios
Tags: Cytoplasmic incompatibility, Genetic biocontrol, Modeling, Population modification/replacement, Population suppression, WolbachiaY. Shi and B. Zheng, Journal of Biological Dynamics, 2021.
We develop two discrete models to study how supplemental releases affect the Wolbachia spreading dynamics in cage mosquito populations. The first model focuses on the case when only infected males are released at each generation. This release strategy has been proved to be ...
Symbiotic Interactions Between Mosquitoes and Mosquito Viruses
Tags: Genetic biocontrol, Mosquitoes, WolbachiaM. Altinli, E. Schnettler and M. Sicard, Front Cell Infect Microbiol, 11:694020. 2021.
Mosquitoes not only transmit human and veterinary pathogens called arboviruses (arthropod-borne viruses) but also harbor mosquito-associated insect-specific viruses (mosquito viruses) that cannot infect vertebrates. In the past, studies investigating mosquito viruses mainly ...
Predicting the spread and persistence of genetically modified dominant sterile male mosquitoes
Tags: Anopheles, Gene drive synthetic, Modeling, Mosquitoes, Sterile insect technique (SIT)A. Ickowicz, S. D. Foster, G. R. Hosack and K. R. Hayes, Parasites and Vectors, 14:480. 2021.
Reproductive containment provides an opportunity to implement a staged-release strategy for genetic control of malaria vectors, in particular allowing predictions about the spread and persistence of (self-limiting) sterile and male-biased strains to be compared to outcomes before ...
Novel Sterile Insect Technology Program Results in Suppression of a Field Mosquito Population and Subsequently to Reduced Incidence of Dengue
Tags: Aedes, Dengue, Population suppression, Sterile insect technique (SIT)Lisiane de Castro Poncio, Filipe Apolinário dos Anjos, Deborah A de Oliveira, Débora Rebechi, et al., The Journal of Infectious Diseases, 224:1005-1014. 2021.
There is a steady rise in the global incidence of Aedes-borne arbovirus disease. It has become urgent to develop alternative solutions for mosquito vector control. We developed a new method of sterilization of male mosquitoes with the goal to suppress a local Aedes aegypti ...
Evolutionary robustness of killer meiotic drives
Tags: Evolution, Modeling, Selfish genetic elements, Toxin-antidote, Transmission distortionP. G. Madgwick and J. B. Wolf, Evolution Letters, 2021.
A meiotic driver is a selfish genetic element that interferes with the process of meiosis to promote its own transmission. The most common mechanism of interference is gamete killing, where the meiotic driver kills gametes that do not contain it. A killer meiotic driver is ...
Suppressing mosquito populations with precision guided sterile males
Tags: Aedes, CRISPR, Genetic biocontrol, Genetically modified mosquitoes, Sterile insect technique (SIT)M. Li, T. Yang, M. Bui, S. Gamez, T. Wise, N. P. Kandul, J. Liu, L. Alcantara, H. Lee, J. R. Edula, R. Raban, Y. Zhan, Y. Wang, N. DeBeaubien, J. Chen, H. M. Sánchez C, J. B. Bennett, I. Antoshechkin, C. Montell, J. M. Marshall and O. S. Akbari, Nature Communications, 12:5374. 2021.
The mosquito Aedes aegypti is the principal vector for arboviruses including dengue/yellow fever, chikungunya, and Zika virus, infecting hundreds of millions of people annually. Unfortunately, traditional control methodologies are insufficient, so innovative control methods are ...
Two newly introduced Wolbachia endosymbionts induce cell host differences in competitiveness and metabolic responses
Tags: Aedes, Cytoplasmic incompatibility, Genetic biocontrol, Other Symbionts, WolbachiaT. P. Li, S. S. Zha, C. Y. Zhou, X. Xia, A. A. Hoffmann and X. Y. Hong, Appl Environ Microbiol, Aem0147921. 2021.
Wolbachia endosymbionts can induce multiple reproductive manipulations in their hosts, with cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) being one of the most common manipulations. The important agricultural pests, white-backed planthopper (Sogatella furcifera) and brown planthopper ...
A supernumerary “B-sex” chromosome drives male sex determination in the Pachón cavefish, Astyanax mexicanus
Tags: Chromosomal drive, Population suppressionB. Imarazene, K. Du, S. Beille, E. Jouanno, R. Feron, Q. Pan, J. Torres-Paz, C. Lopez-Roques, A. Castinel, L. Gil, C. Kuchly, C. Donnadieu, H. Parrinello, L. Journot, C. Cabau, M. Zahm, C. Klopp, T. Pavlica, A. Al-Rikabi, T. Liehr, S. A. Simanovsky, J. Bo, Current Biology, 2021.
Sex chromosomes are generally derived from a pair of classical type-A chromosomes, and relatively few alternative models have been proposed up to now.(1)(,)(2) B chromosomes (Bs) are supernumerary and dispensable chromosomes with non-Mendelian inheritance found in many plant and ...
Persistent Spodoptera frugiperda rhabdovirus infection in Sf9 cells is not restricted by Wolbachia wMelPop-CLA and wAlbB strains and is targeted by the RNAi machinery
Tags: Genetic engineering, Moths, WolbachiaR. Parry, H. de Malmanche and S. Asgari, Virology, 563:82-87. 2021.
The endosymbiotic bacterium Wolbachia pipientis confers RNA virus refractoriness in Drosophila and Aedes mosquitoes. Questions remain about the Wolbachia-virus restriction phenotype and how extensive this phenomenon may be within other arthropods. Here, we generated two ...
Wolbachia-Conferred Antiviral Protection Is Determined by Developmental Temperature
Tags: Arbovirus, Fruit fly, Population modification/replacement, WolbachiaE. Chrostek, N. Martins, M. S. Marialva and L. Teixeira, mBio, e0292320. 2021.
Overall, we show that Wolbachia-conferred antiviral protection is temperature dependent, being present or absent depending on the environmental conditions. This interaction likely impacts Wolbachia-host interactions in nature and, as a result, frequencies of host and symbionts in ...
Diverse wMel variants of Wolbachia pipientis differentially rescue fertility and cytological defects of the bag of marbles partial loss of function mutation in Drosophila melanogaster
Tags: Cytoplasmic incompatibility, Fruit fly, WolbachiaJ. E. Bubnell, P. Fernandez-Begne, C. K. S. Ulbing and C. F. Aquadro, G3 Genes|Genomes|Genetics, 2021.
In Drosophila melanogaster, the maternally inherited endosymbiont Wolbachia pipientis interacts with germline stem cell genes during oogenesis. One such gene, bag of marbles (bam) is the key switch for differentiation and also shows signals of adaptive evolution for protein ...
Assessment of fitness and vector competence of a New Caledonia wMel Aedes aegypti strain before field-release
Tags: Aedes, Dengue, Population modification/replacement, WolbachiaN. Pocquet, O. O’Connor, H. A. Flores, J. Tutagata, M. Pol, D. J. Hooker, C. Inizan, S. Russet, J. M. Duyvestyn, E. C. Pacidônio, D. Girault, D. da Silva Gonçalves, M. Minier, F. Touzain, E. Chalus, K. Lucien, F. Cheilan, T. Derycke, S. Laumond, C. P. Sim, PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 15:e0009752. 2021.
Dengue represents a risk for almost half of the world’s population, especially throughout the tropics. In New Caledonia, dengue outbreaks have become more frequent in the past decade along with the recent circulation of chikungunya and Zika viruses. The opportunity to use the ...
Satellite DNA-mediated diversification of a sex-ratio meiotic drive gene family in Drosophila
Tags: Fruit fly, Sex distorter, Transmission distortionC. A. Muirhead and D. C. Presgraves, Nature Ecology & Evolution, 2021.
Sex chromosomes are susceptible to the evolution of selfish meiotic drive elements that bias transmission and distort progeny sex ratios. Conflict between such sex-ratio drivers and the rest of the genome can trigger evolutionary arms races resulting in genetically suppressed ...
The viral era
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, Governance, Policy, Regulation, Risk and safety, Risk assessmentB. Giese, EMBO reports, 22:e53229. 2021.
New biotechnologies such as gene drives and engineered viruses herald a viral era that would give humans exceptional power over any organism at the level of the genotype. In synthetic biology, orthogonality—in the sense of lack of interference—between different systems or ...
Mosquito transgenesis for malaria control
Tags: Anopheles, Gene drive, Gene editing, Genetically modified mosquitoes, Malaria, Population modification/replacementS. Dong, Y. Dong, M. L. Simões and G. Dimopoulos, Trends in Parasitology, 2021.
Malaria is one of the deadliest diseases. Because of the ineffectiveness of current malaria-control methods, several novel mosquito vector-based control strategies have been proposed to supplement existing control strategies. Mosquito transgenesis and gene drive have emerged as ...
wMel Wolbachia genome remains stable after 7 years in Australian Aedes aegypti field populations
Tags: Aedes, Arbovirus, Dengue, WolbachiaK. R. Dainty, J. Hawkey, L. M. Judd, E. C. Pacidônio, J. M. Duyvestyn, D. S. Gonçalves, S. Y. Lin, T. B. O'Donnell, S. L. O'Neill, C. P. Simmons, K. E. Holt and H. A. Flores, Microbial Genomics, 7. 2021.
Infection of wMel Wolbachia in Aedes aegypti imparts two signature features that enable its application for biocontrol of dengue. First, the susceptibility of mosquitoes to viruses such as dengue and Zika is reduced. Second, a reproductive manipulation is caused that enables wMel ...
Unravelling the mystery of female meiotic drive: where we are
Tags: Selfish genetic elements, Transmission distortionF. E. Clark and T. Akera, Open Biol, 11:210074. 2021.
Female meiotic drive is the phenomenon where a selfish genetic element alters chromosome segregation during female meiosis to segregate to the egg and transmit to the next generation more frequently than Mendelian expectation. While several examples of female meiotic drive have ...
Gene drive escape from resistance depends on mechanism and ecology
Tags: CRISPR, Gene drive synthetic, Modeling, Population suppression, Replicator/site directed nuclease, Resistance, Toxin-antidoteF. Cook, J. J. Bull and R. Gomulkiewicz, bioRxiv, 2021.08.30.458221. 2021.
Gene drives can potentially be used to suppress pest populations, and the advent of CRISPR technology has made it feasible to engineer them in many species, especially insects. What remains largely unknown for implementations is whether anti-drive resistance will evolve to block ...
The international governance of gene drive organisms
Tags: Biodiversity/Conservation, Gene drive synthetic, Governance, Policy, Regulation, Risk and safetyF. Rabitz, Environmental Politics, 2021.
Gene Drive Organisms (GDOs) are a proposed biotechnological intervention that might generate significant benefits for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity while also raising critical biosafety issues. Despite their inevitable transboundary effects, their ...
Flavors of Non-Random Meiotic Segregation of Autosomes and Sex Chromosomes
Tags: Transmission distortion, X chromosome, Y-chromosomeF. Pajpach, T. Wu, L. Shearwin-Whyatt, K. Jones and F. Grützner, Genes, 12. 2021.
Segregation of chromosomes is a multistep process occurring both at mitosis and meiosis to ensure that daughter cells receive a complete set of genetic information. Critical components in the chromosome segregation include centromeres, kinetochores, components of sister chromatid ...
Parallel pathways for recruiting effector proteins determine centromere drive and suppression
Tags: Selfish genetic elements, Transmission distortionT. Kumon, J. Ma, R. B. Akins, D. Stefanik, C. E. Nordgren, J. Kim, M. T. Levine and M. A. Lampson, Cell, 2021.
Selfish centromere DNA sequences bias their transmission to the egg in female meiosis. Evolutionary theory suggests that centromere proteins evolve to suppress costs of this "centromere drive." In hybrid mouse models with genetically different maternal and paternal centromeres, ...
Versatile Applications of the CRISPR/Cas Toolkit in Plant Pathology and Disease Management
Tags: Agriculture, CRISPR, Gene drive synthetic, Gene editing, Yeast and FungiM. S. Wheatley and Y. N. Yang, Phytopathology, 111:1080-1090. 2021.
New tools and advanced technologies have played key roles in facilitating basic research in plant pathology and practical approaches for disease management and crop health. Recently. the CRISPR/Cas (clustered regularly interspersed short palindromic repeats/CRISPR-associated) ...
Sterile males and females can synergistically suppress wild pests targeted by sterile insect technique
Tags: Modeling, Population genetics/dynamics, Sterile insect technique (SIT)Y. Ikegawa, K. Ito, C. Himuro and A. Honma, Journal of Theoretical Biology, 530. 2021.
We constructed a mathematical model to examine the contribution of sterile males and females to the pest-control effect and the synergy between them. We consider that males seek out and court females in accord with their own female searching ability and preference, and that ...
Cas9-Mediated Gene-Editing in the Black-Legged Tick, Ixodes Scapularis, by Embryo Injection and ReMOT Control.
Tags: CRISPR, Gene editing, Genetically modified organisms, Other arthropodsA. a. P. Sharma, Michael N. and Reyes, Jeremiah B. and Chana, Randeep and Yim, Won C. and Heu, Chan C. and Kim, Donghun and Chaverra-Rodriguez, Duverney and Rasgon, Jason L. and Harrell, Robert A. and Nuss, Andrew B. and Gulia-Nuss, Monika,, Cell Reports, 2021.
Despite their capacity to acquire and pass on an array of debilitating pathogens, research on ticks has lagged behind other arthropod vectors, such as mosquitoes, largely because of a lack of genetic and molecular tools. CRISPR-Cas9 is transforming non-model organism research; ...
CRISPR/Cas9-based functional characterization of the pigmentation gene ebony in Plutella xylostella
Tags: CRISPR, Gene drive synthetic, Genetic biocontrol, Moths, Self limitingX. Xu, T. Harvey-Samuel, J. Yang, M. You and L. Alphey, Insect Molecular Biology, 2021.
Abstract Body pigmentation is an important character of insects in adapting to biotic and abiotic environmental challenges. Additionally, based on the relative ease of screening, several genes involved in insect melanisation have been used in classic genetic studies or as visual ...
Insect pest management in the age of synthetic biology
Tags: Agriculture, Gene drive synthetic, Genetic biocontrol, Synthetic biologyR. Mateos Fernández, M. Petek, I. Gerasymenko, M. Juteršek, Š. Baebler, K. Kallam, E. Moreno Giménez, J. Gondolf, A. Nordmann, K. Gruden, D. Orzaez and N. J. Patron, Plant Biotechnology Journal, 2021.
Arthropod crop pests are responsible for 20% of global annual crop losses, a figure predicted to increase in a changing climate where the ranges of numerous species are projected to expand. At the same time, many insect species are beneficial, acting as pollinators and predators ...
New mosquito control tools are critical
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, Genetic biocontrol, History, Malaria, MosquitoesL. Braack, Open Access Government, 2021.
Globally, we are making slow headway in the fight against malaria, but there has been progress, nonetheless. Since 2000, 39 countries and territories have managed to rid themselves of malaria; the most recent is China. Existing tools can achieve local elimination, but the battle ...
Genetically Modified Mosquitoes
Tags: Aedes, Gene editing, Genetic biocontrol, Genetically modified mosquitoes, Mosquitoes, Oxitec, Sterile insect technique (SIT)E. P. Caragata, Y. Lee and E. A. Buckner, UF IFAS Extension Service, 2021.
Genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes are controversial, partly because of misinformation. This publication provides science-based information about GM mosquitoes to the public and anyone involved in mosquito control. It explains what GM mosquitoes are and why they are being ...
A Monte Carlo study to investigate the feasibility to use the Moroccan panoramic irradiator in sterile insect technique programs
Tags: Fruit fly, Genetic biocontrol, Sterile insect technique (SIT)A. Aknouch, Y. El-ouardi, L. Hamroud, R. Sebihi, M. Mouhib, M. Yjjou, A. Didi and A. Choukri, Radiation and Environmental Biophysics, 2021.
Mediterranean fly pest (Ceratitis) is one of the most destructive pests of fruit species in Morocco. The sterile insect technique (SIT) is an environmentally friendly strategy that uses ionizing radiation to sterilize adult insects. Morocco has a panoramic gamma irradiator used ...
Knowing and Controlling: Engineering Ideals and Gene Drive for Invasive Species Control in Aotearoa New Zealand
Tags: Ethics, Gene drive synthetic, Invasive species, Oceania, PolicyC. H. Ross, Nature Remade: Engineering Life, Envisioning Worlds, 2021.
On the islands of Aotearoa, also called New Zealand, invasive species have been a prominent and persistent concern for local ecosystems. Traditional methods of biological control, though, can be difficult to implement and often have harmful side- effects for the environment and ...
Analysis of the Segregation Distortion of FcRAN1 Genotypes Based on Whole-Genome Resequencing of Fig (Ficus carica L.) Breeding Parents
Tags: Agriculture, Transmission distortionH. Ikegami, K. Shirasawa, H. Yakushiji, S. Yabe, M. Sato, T. Hayashi, K. Tashiro and H. Nogata, Frontiers in Plant Science, 12:8. 2021.
The common fig (Ficus carica L.) has a gynodioecious breeding system, and its sex phenotype is an important trait for breeding because only female plant fruits are edible. During breeding to select for female plants, we analyzed the FcRAN1 genotype, which is strongly associated ...
A common gene drive language eases regulatory process and eco-evolutionary extensions
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, ModelingP. Verma, R. G. Reeves and C. S. Gokhale, BMC Ecology and Evolution, 21:156. 2021.
Synthetic gene drive technologies aim to spread transgenic constructs into wild populations even when they impose organismal fitness disadvantages. The extraordinary diversity of plausible drive mechanisms and the range of selective parameters they may encounter makes it very ...
Red queen’s race: rapid evolutionary dynamics of an expanding family of meiotic drive factors and their hpRNA suppressors
Tags: Fruit fly, Genetic biocontrol, Transmission distortion, X chromosomeJ. Vedanayagam, C.-J. Lin and E. C. Lai, bioRxiv, 2021.08.05.454923. 2021.
Meiotic drivers are a class of selfish genetic elements that are widespread across eukaryotes. Their activities are often detrimental to organismal fitness and thus trigger drive suppression to ensure fair segregation during meiosis. Accordingly, their existence is frequently ...
Gene drives gaining speed
Tags: CRISPR, Gene drive synthetic, Population modification/replacement, Population suppression, UnderdominanceE. Bier, Nature Reviews Genetics, 2021.
Gene drives are selfish genetic elements that are transmitted to progeny at super-Mendelian (>50%) frequencies. Recently developed CRISPR–Cas9-based gene-drive systems are highly efficient in laboratory settings, offering the potential to reduce the prevalence of vector-borne ...
The Promise of Genetics and Genomics for Improving Invasive Mammal Management on Islands
Tags: CRISPR, Gene drive synthetic, Genomics, Invasive species, Other mammalsB. T. Burgess, R. L. Irvine, G. R. Howald and M. A. Russello, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 9. 2021.
Invasive species are major contributors to global biodiversity decline. Invasive mammalian species (IMS), in particular, have profound negative effects in island systems that contain disproportionally high levels of species richness and endemism. The eradication and control of ...
Invasive Mice and Engineered Genes
Tags: Biodiversity/Conservation, Gene drive synthetic, Invasive speciesW. M. Adams and K. H. Redford, Yale University Press Blog, 2021.
On Gough Island, a steep speck of land deep in the South Atlantic, giant mice eat albatross chicks as they sit on their nests. They are house mice, accidental arrivals on the ships of long-dead sealers. But they have lost their secretive, timid, mousy ways. Over numerous ...
2021 WHO guidelines on genetically modified mosquitoes
Tags: Ethics, Gene drive synthetic, Genetically modified mosquitoes, Policy, RegulationM. Makoni, The Lancet Microbe, 2:e353. 2021.
On May 19, 2021, WHO updated its guidelines for research and development on genetically modified mosquitoes, which define the standards for decision-making about how and when testing should proceed and describe best practices to ensure that research done in a public health ...
Host-associated differentiation of target pests should be assessed before using gene drive as a pest control tool – an opinion
Tags: Agriculture, Population suppressionR. F. Medina, Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata, 2021.
Abstract Advances in gene editing have made feasible the potential use of gene drive for pest control. Ecological risk assessments will certainly be required before this technology can be released into open fields. In this article I argue for the importance to include ...
Transgenic expression of Nix converts genetic females into males and allows automated sex sorting in Aedes albopictus
Tags: Aedes, Genetic biocontrol, Mosquitoes, Population suppression, Sterile insect technique (SIT)C. Lutrat, R. P. Olmo, T. Baldet, J. Bouyer and E. Marois, bioRxiv, 2021.07.28.454191. 2021.
Aedes albopictus is a major vector of arboviruses. Better understanding of its sex determination is crucial for developing mosquito control tools, especially genetic sexing strains. In Aedes aegypti, Nix is the primary gene responsible for masculinization and Nix-expressing ...
Horizontal Transmission of the Symbiont Microsporidia MB in Anopheles arabiensis
Tags: Anopheles, Gene drive, Genetic biocontrol, Malaria, Other SymbiontsG. Nattoh, T. Maina, E. E. Makhulu, L. Mbaisi, E. Mararo, F. G. Otieno, T. Bukhari, T. O. Onchuru, E. Teal, J. Paredes, J. L. Bargul, D. M. Mburu, E. A. Onyango, G. Magoma, S. P. Sinkins and J. K. Herren, Frontiers in Microbiology, 12. 2021.
The recently discovered Anopheles symbiont, Microsporidia MB, has a strong malaria transmission-blocking phenotype in Anopheles arabiensis, the predominant Anopheles gambiae species complex member in many active transmission areas in eastern Africa. The ability of Microsporidia ...
Gene-drive suppression of mosquito populations in large cages as a bridge between lab and field
Tags: Anopheles, Gene drive synthetic, Malaria, Population suppressionA. Hammond, P. Pollegioni, T. Persampieri, A. North, R. Minuz, A. Trusso, A. Bucci, K. Kyrou, I. Morianou, A. Simoni, T. Nolan, R. Müller and A. Crisanti, Nature Communications, 12:4589. 2021.
CRISPR-based gene-drives targeting the gene doublesex in the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae effectively suppressed the reproductive capability of mosquito populations reared in small laboratory cages. To bridge the gap between laboratory and the field, this gene-drive ...
Oxitec and MosquitoMate in the United States: lessons for the future of gene drive mosquito control
Tags: Genetic biocontrol, Genetically modified mosquitoes, History, Oxitec, Policy, Regulation, Stakeholder engagementC. E. Schairer, J. Najera, A. A. James, O. S. Akbari and C. S. Bloss, Pathogens and Global Health, 2021.
ABSTRACTIn response to growing concerns regarding mosquito-borne diseases, scientists are developing novel systems of vector control. Early examples include Oxitec?s OX513A genetically-engineered mosquito and MosquitoMate?s Wolbachia-infected mosquito, and systems using ...
