Keywords: Culex

Culex-Transmitted Diseases: Mechanisms, Impact, and Future Control Strategies using Wolbachia

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Madhav, M.; Blasdell, K.R.; Trewin, B.; Paradkar, P.N.; López-Denman, A.J.,  Viruses,  16:1134. 2024.
Mosquitoes of the Culex genus are responsible for a large burden of zoonotic virus transmission globally. Collectively, they play a significant role in the transmission of medically significant diseases such as Japanese encephalitis virus and West Nile virus. Climate change, ...

A synthetic biology approach to transgene expression

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P. Leftwich, T. , J. Purcell, C. , M. Anderson, A. E. , R. Fragkoudis, S. Basu, G. Lycett, T. and L. Alphey,  bioRxiv,  2023.08.31.555539. 2023.
The ability to control gene expression is pivotal in genetic engineering and synthetic biology. However, in most non-model and pest insect species, empirical evidence for predictable modulation of gene expression levels is lacking. This knowledge gap is critical for genetic ...

Draft environmental assessment for use of Wolbachia-based incompatible insect technique for the suppression of nonnative southern house mosquito populations on Kauaʻi

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Hawai'i Department of Land and Natural Resources,  Hawai'i Department of Land and Natural Resources,  2023.
The State of Hawai'i Department of Land and Natural Resources hereby transmits the Draft Environmental Assessment and Anticipated Finding of No Significant Impact (DEAEnvironmental Assessment for use of Wolbachia-based Incompatible Insect Technique for the suppression of ...

CRISPR-based gene drives generate super-Mendelian inheritance in the disease vector Culex quinquefasciatus

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T. Harvey-Samuel, X. Feng, E. M. Okamoto, D.-K. Purusothaman, P. T. Leftwich, L. Alphey and V. M. Gantz,  bioRxiv,  2023.06.12.544656. 2023.
Culex mosquitoes pose a significant public health threat as vectors for a variety of diseases including West Nile virus and lymphatic filariasis, and transmit pathogens threatening livestock, companion animals, and endangered birds. Rampant insecticide resistance makes ...

A mass rearing cost calculator for the control of Culex quinquefasciatus in Hawaiʻi using the incompatible insect technique

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A. E. Vorsino and Z. Xi,  Parasites and Vectors,  15:453. 2022.
Hawaiʻi’s native forest avifauna is experiencing drastic declines due to climate change-induced increases in temperature encroaching on their upper-elevation montane rainforest refugia. Higher temperatures support greater avian malaria infection rates due to greater densities ...

Mosquito control to save Hawaiian honeycreepers does not involve GMOs

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Department of Land and Natural Resources,  Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources,  2022.
Despite misinformation circulating on social media, the importation of “incompatible-male” mosquitoes to control populations of wild mosquitoes and to save four native bird species from extinction, does not involve the use of any genetically modified organisms (GMOs) or ...

Paternal transmission of the Wolbachia CidB toxin underlies cytoplasmic incompatibility

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B. Horard, K. Terretaz, A. S. Gosselin-Grenet, H. Sobry, M. Sicard, F. Landmann and B. Loppin,  Current Biology,  2022.
Wolbachia are widespread endosymbiotic bacteria that manipulate the reproduction of arthropods through a diversity of cellular mechanisms. In cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), a sterility syndrome originally discovered in the mosquito Culex pipiens, uninfected eggs fertilized by ...

Beyond the eye: Kynurenine pathway impairment causes midgut homeostasis dysfunction and survival and reproductive costs in blood-feeding mosquitoes

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V. Bottino-Rojas, I. Ferreira, R. D. Nunes, X. Feng, T. B. Pham, A. Kelsey, R. Carballar-Lejarazú, V. Gantz, P. L. Oliveira and A. A. James,  Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology,  103720. 2022.
Insect ommochrome biosynthesis pathways metabolize tryptophan to generate eye-color pigments and naturally occurring alleles of pathway genes are useful phenotypic markers in transgenesis studies. Pleiotropic effects of mutations in some genes exert a load on both survival and ...

Wolbachia Endosymbiont and Mosquito Vectors, with Emphasis on Lymphatic Filariasis Elimination

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I. P. Sunish,  Genetically Modified and other Innovative Vector Control Technologies,  2021.
Wolbachia are maternally inherited intracellular bacteria, known to alter early development and mitotic processes in their hosts. They are frequently observed as a reproductive parasite, capable of inducing feminization, parthenogenesis, male killing, or cytoplasmic ...

Prevalence and molecular characterization of Wolbachia in field-collected Aedes albopictus, Anopheles sinensis, Armigeres subalbatus, Culex pipiens and Cx. tritaeniorhynchus in China

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Y. 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 ...

Scientists use gene editing tool to target mosquito-spread disease

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Medical Research Council,  Phys Org,  2021.
Advances in genome editing have allowed the development of genetic insect control methods, which could be highly effective and are species-specific. The results have been published in Scientific Reports. Scientists showed that a method involving a gene editing tool called ...

CRISPR/Cas-9 mediated knock-in by homology dependent repair in the West Nile Virus vector Culex quinquefasciatus Say

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D.-K. Purusothaman, L. Shackleford, M. A. E. Anderson, T. Harvey-Samuel and L. Alphey,  Scientific Reports,  11:14964. 2021.
Culex quinquefasciatus Say is a mosquito distributed in both tropical and subtropical regions of the world. It is a night-active, opportunistic blood-feeder and vectors many animal and human diseases, including West Nile Virus and avian malaria. Current vector control methods ...

New CRISPR Tools Can Help Contain Mosquito Disease Transmission

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Anonymous,  labcompare,  2021.
Scientists have now developed several genetic editing tools that help pave the way to an eventual gene drive designed to stop Culex mosquitoes from spreading disease. As detailed in the journal Nature Communications, Xuechun Feng, Valentino Gantz and their colleagues at Harvard ...

Researchers Create New CRISPR Tools to Help Contain Mosquito Disease Transmission

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M. Aguilera,  UC San Diego News Center,  2021.
Much less genetic engineering has been devoted to Culex genus mosquitoes, which spread devastating afflictions stemming from West Nile virus—the leading cause of mosquito-borne disease in the continental United States—as well as other viruses such as the Japanese encephalitis ...

New CRISPR tools help contain mosquito disease transmission: Genetics toolkit targets less researched Culex mosquitoes, which transmit West Nile virus and avian malaria.

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University of California - San Diego,  ScienceDaily,  2021.
Since the onset of the CRISPR genetic editing revolution, scientists have been working to leverage the technology in the development of gene drives that target pathogen-spreading mosquitoes such as Anopheles and Aedes species, which spread malaria, dengue and other ...

Optimized CRISPR tools and site-directed transgenesis towards gene drive development in Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes

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X. Feng, V. López Del Amo, E. Mameli, M. Lee, A. L. Bishop, N. Perrimon and V. M. Gantz,  Nature Communications,  12:2960. 2021.
Culex mosquitoes are a global vector for multiple human and animal diseases, including West Nile virus, lymphatic filariasis, and avian malaria, posing a constant threat to public health, livestock, companion animals, and endangered birds. While rising insecticide resistance has ...

Optimized CRISPR tools and site-directed transgenesis in Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes for gene drive development

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X. Feng, V. Lopez Del Amo, E. Mameli, M. Lee, A. L. Bishop, N. Perrimon and V. M. Gantz,  bioRxiv,  2021.02.10.430702. 2021.
Here, we developed a Culex-specific Cas9/gRNA expression toolkit and used site-directed homology-based transgenesis to generate and validate a Culex quinquefasciatus Cas9-expressing line. We showed that gRNA scaffold variants improve transgenesis efficiency in both Culex and ...

Targeting female flight for genetic control of mosquitoes

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D. Navarro-Payá, I. Flis, M. A. E. Anderson, P. Hawes, M. Li, O. S. Akbari, S. Basu and L. Alphey,  PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases,  14:e0008876. 2020.
The yellow fever mosquito and the Southern house mosquito are important vectors of infectious diseases. Given their widespread presence across tropical and subtropical regions of the world and the increased risk of spread due to global warming there is a growing need for ...

Cytoplasmic incompatibility: an autocidal mechanism for mosquito population control

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V. Dev,  BugBitten BMC,  2020.
Cytoplasmic incompatibility resulting in non-reciprocal fertility is a naturally occurring phenomenon, but remains unexplored to greater extent for the control of insect vector populations. This mechanism deserves priority for mosquito control and reducing disease transmission, ...

Research team genetically modifies mosquito; now completing construction of full gene drive system

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University of Hawaii,  UH Hilo News,  2020.
A research group at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo is currently completing construction of the full gene drive system of the Hawai‘i-sourced southern house mosquito (Culex quinquefasciatus), and plan to use CRISPR technology to insert it alongside an eye-color phenotype ...

Wolbachia transinfections in Culex quinquefasciatus generate cytoplasmic incompatibility

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T. H. Ant, C. Herd, F. Louis, A. B. Failloux and S. P. Sinkins,  Insect Molecular Biology,  29:1-8. 2020.
Culex quinquefasciatus is an important mosquito vector of a number of viral and protozoan pathogens of humans and animals, and naturally carries the endosymbiont Wolbachia pipientis, strain wPip. Wolbachia are used in two distinct vector control strategies: firstly, population ...

Genetic pest management technologies to control invasive rodents

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D. Kanavy and D. Threadgill,  Island invasives: scaling up to meet the challenge,  2019.
Many strategies exist to manage invasive pests on islands, ranging from poison to trapping, with varying degrees of success. Genetic technologies are increasingly being applied to insect pests, but so far, not to vertebrates. We are implementing a genetic strategy to eradicate ...

Trialling gene drives to control invasive species: what, where and how?

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T. Harvey-Samuel, K. J. Campbell, M. Edgington and L. Alphey,  Island invasives: scaling up to meet the challenge,  2019.
The control of invasive species would be enhanced through the addition of novel, more effective and sustainable pest management methods. One control option yet to be trialled in the field is to deploy transgene-based ‘Gene Drives’: technologies which force the inheritance of ...

Wolbachia and cytoplasmic incompatibility in mosquitoes

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Sinkins, SP,  Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology,  34:723-729. 2004.
Wolbachia are maternally inherited bacteria that induce cytoplasmic incompatibility in mosquitoes, and are able to use these patterns of sterility to spread themselves through populations. For this reason they have been proposed as a gene drive system for mosquito genetic ...

Population replacement in Culex-fatigans by means of cytoplasmic incompatibility .2. Field cage experiments with overlapping generations

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C. F. Curtis,  Bulletin of the World Health Organization,  53:107-119. 1976.
Three experiments were carried out in field cages to test the principle of " transport" of a desirable gene or chromosome into a wild Culex fatigans population as a result of the sterility in cross-matings associated with cytoplasmic incompatibility. Cycling populations of Delhi ...

Population replacement in Culex fatigens by means of cytoplasmic incompatibility. Laboratory experiments with non-overlapping generations

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C. F. Curtis and T. Adak,  Bulletin of the World Health Organization,  51:249-255. 1974.
Bidirectional cytoplasmic incompatibility in the Culex pipiens complex appears to provide a mechanism for the replacement of a wild population by a strain refractory to filaria or a strain made partly sterile by a translocation. As a preliminary test of the feasibility of the ...

Eradication of Culex pipiens fatigans through cytoplasmic incompatibility.

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H. Laven,  Nature,  216:383. 1967.
Culex pipiens fatigans is the chief vector of filariasis in south-east Asia. Urbanization has often caused the numbers of this mosquito-and with it the danger of filariasis infection-to increase alarmingly. The natural vigour, tolerance and fast development of resistance to ...