Keywords: biocontrol

Wolbachia still works when it is warm

McKay, A.,  Nature Ecology and Evolution,  8. 2024.
Wolbachia is a maternally inherited endosymbiotic bacterium that can impede the transmission of viruses such as dengue and Zika by some mosquito vectors to humans. Over the past decade, this self-sustaining disease-control method has been rolled out in cities of increasing size; ...
Keywords: , , ,

Gene drives – maybe not a silver bullet, but a bullet nonetheless

Jenny Leonard,  New Zealand's Biological Heritage,  2023.
A gene drive is both a natural process and a genetic engineering technology where a gene is promoted or favoured during reproduction—instead of there being a “chance” of an offspring inheriting a gene, gene drives almost guarantee that the offspring (and subsequent ...
Keywords: , , ,

Rapid turnover of pathogen-blocking Wolbachia and their incompatibility loci

Shropshire JD, Conner WR, Vanderpool D, Hoffmann AA, Turelli M, Cooper BS.,  bioRxiv,  2023.
At least half of all insect species carry maternally inherited Wolbachia alphaproteobacteria, making Wolbachia the most common endosymbionts in nature. Wolbachia spread to high frequencies is often due to cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), a Wolbachia -induced sperm modification ...
Keywords: , , ,

Assessing the sterility and quality of gamma-irradiated pepper weevils, Anthonomus eugenii (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), toward the development of the sterile insect technique

Basso, J.V., Labbe, R. and Scott-Dupree, C.,  Pest Management Science,  2023.
The pepper weevil (PW), Anthonomus eugenii, is an economically significant pest of cultivated Capsicum spp. pepper crops in North America where it remains a challenge to manage because of its cryptic immature life stages. The sterile insect technique (SIT) is a genetic pest ...
Keywords: , , ,

Rapid turnover of pathogen-blocking Wolbachia and their incompatibility loci

Dylan Shropshire, William R. Conner, Daniel Vanderpool, Ary A. Hoffmann, Michael Turelli, Brandon S. Cooper,  bioRxiv,  2023.
At least half of all insect species carry maternally inherited Wolbachia alphaproteobacteria, making Wolbachia the most common endosymbionts in nature. Wolbachia spread to high frequencies is often due to cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), a Wolbachia-induced sperm modification ...
Keywords: , , ,

Rescue by gene swamping as a gene drive deployment strategy

Keith D. Harris, Gili Greenbaum,  Cell Reports,  42. 2023.
Gene drives are genetic constructs that can spread deleterious alleles with potential application to population suppression of harmful species. As gene drives can potentially spill over to other populations or species, control measures and fail-safe strategies must be considered. ...
Keywords: , , ,

Biotechnological Potential of Microorganisms for Mosquito Population Control and Reduction in Vector Competence

R. D. Katak, A. M. Cintra, B. C. Burini, O. Marinotti, J. A. Souza-Neto and E. M. Rocha,  Insects,  14. 2023.
Mosquitoes transmit pathogens that cause human diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, chikungunya, yellow fever, Zika fever, and filariasis. Biotechnological approaches using microorganisms have a significant potential to control mosquito populations and reduce their vector ...
Keywords: , , ,

The suppressive potential of a gene drive in populations of invasive social wasps is currently limited

A. B. Meiborg, N. R. Faber, B. A. Taylor, B. A. Harpur and G. Gorjanc,  Scientific Reports,  13:1640. 2023.
Social insects are very successful invasive species, and the continued increase of global trade and transportation has exacerbated this problem. The yellow-legged hornet, Vespa velutina nigrithorax (henceforth Asian hornet), is drastically expanding its range in Western Europe. ...
Keywords: , , ,

Control of Aedes mosquito populations using recombinant microalgae expressing short hairpin RNAs and their effect on plankton

X. Fei, S. Xiao, X. Huang, Z. Li, X. Li, C. He, Y. Li, X. Zhang and X. Deng,  PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases,  17:e0011109. 2023.
New biocontrol strategies are urgently needed to combat vector-borne infectious diseases. This study presents a low-cost method to produce a potential mosquito insecticide that utilizes the microalgae released into suburban water sources to control mosquito populations. Chlorella ...
Keywords: , , ,

A patent review on strategies for biological control of mosquito vector

K. Parihar, M. Telang and A. Ovhal,  World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology,  36:23. 2020.
This paper presents a comprehensive technology overview of patent documents disclosing biological agents for mosquito control. The patent analysis revealed that comparable number of patent documents were filed in two technology categories: non-recombinant agents and genetically ...
Keywords: , , ,

Keywords: biocontrol

Wolbachia still works when it is warm

McKay, A.,  Nature Ecology and Evolution,  8. 2024.
Wolbachia is a maternally inherited endosymbiotic bacterium that can impede the transmission of viruses such as dengue and Zika by some mosquito vectors to humans. Over the past decade, this self-sustaining disease-control method has been rolled out in cities of increasing size; ...
Keywords: , , ,

Gene drives – maybe not a silver bullet, but a bullet nonetheless

Jenny Leonard,  New Zealand's Biological Heritage,  2023.
A gene drive is both a natural process and a genetic engineering technology where a gene is promoted or favoured during reproduction—instead of there being a “chance” of an offspring inheriting a gene, gene drives almost guarantee that the offspring (and subsequent ...
Keywords: , , ,

Rapid turnover of pathogen-blocking Wolbachia and their incompatibility loci

Shropshire JD, Conner WR, Vanderpool D, Hoffmann AA, Turelli M, Cooper BS.,  bioRxiv,  2023.
At least half of all insect species carry maternally inherited Wolbachia alphaproteobacteria, making Wolbachia the most common endosymbionts in nature. Wolbachia spread to high frequencies is often due to cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), a Wolbachia -induced sperm modification ...
Keywords: , , ,

Assessing the sterility and quality of gamma-irradiated pepper weevils, Anthonomus eugenii (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), toward the development of the sterile insect technique

Basso, J.V., Labbe, R. and Scott-Dupree, C.,  Pest Management Science,  2023.
The pepper weevil (PW), Anthonomus eugenii, is an economically significant pest of cultivated Capsicum spp. pepper crops in North America where it remains a challenge to manage because of its cryptic immature life stages. The sterile insect technique (SIT) is a genetic pest ...
Keywords: , , ,

Rapid turnover of pathogen-blocking Wolbachia and their incompatibility loci

Dylan Shropshire, William R. Conner, Daniel Vanderpool, Ary A. Hoffmann, Michael Turelli, Brandon S. Cooper,  bioRxiv,  2023.
At least half of all insect species carry maternally inherited Wolbachia alphaproteobacteria, making Wolbachia the most common endosymbionts in nature. Wolbachia spread to high frequencies is often due to cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), a Wolbachia-induced sperm modification ...
Keywords: , , ,

Rescue by gene swamping as a gene drive deployment strategy

Keith D. Harris, Gili Greenbaum,  Cell Reports,  42. 2023.
Gene drives are genetic constructs that can spread deleterious alleles with potential application to population suppression of harmful species. As gene drives can potentially spill over to other populations or species, control measures and fail-safe strategies must be considered. ...
Keywords: , , ,

Biotechnological Potential of Microorganisms for Mosquito Population Control and Reduction in Vector Competence

R. D. Katak, A. M. Cintra, B. C. Burini, O. Marinotti, J. A. Souza-Neto and E. M. Rocha,  Insects,  14. 2023.
Mosquitoes transmit pathogens that cause human diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, chikungunya, yellow fever, Zika fever, and filariasis. Biotechnological approaches using microorganisms have a significant potential to control mosquito populations and reduce their vector ...
Keywords: , , ,

The suppressive potential of a gene drive in populations of invasive social wasps is currently limited

A. B. Meiborg, N. R. Faber, B. A. Taylor, B. A. Harpur and G. Gorjanc,  Scientific Reports,  13:1640. 2023.
Social insects are very successful invasive species, and the continued increase of global trade and transportation has exacerbated this problem. The yellow-legged hornet, Vespa velutina nigrithorax (henceforth Asian hornet), is drastically expanding its range in Western Europe. ...
Keywords: , , ,

Control of Aedes mosquito populations using recombinant microalgae expressing short hairpin RNAs and their effect on plankton

X. Fei, S. Xiao, X. Huang, Z. Li, X. Li, C. He, Y. Li, X. Zhang and X. Deng,  PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases,  17:e0011109. 2023.
New biocontrol strategies are urgently needed to combat vector-borne infectious diseases. This study presents a low-cost method to produce a potential mosquito insecticide that utilizes the microalgae released into suburban water sources to control mosquito populations. Chlorella ...
Keywords: , , ,

A patent review on strategies for biological control of mosquito vector

K. Parihar, M. Telang and A. Ovhal,  World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology,  36:23. 2020.
This paper presents a comprehensive technology overview of patent documents disclosing biological agents for mosquito control. The patent analysis revealed that comparable number of patent documents were filed in two technology categories: non-recombinant agents and genetically ...
Keywords: , , ,