Keywords: population suppression
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The Promise and Challenge of Genetic Biocontrol Approaches for Malaria EliminationS. James and M. Santos, Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease, 2023.
Malaria remains an ongoing public health challenge, with over 600,000 deaths in 2021, of which approximately 96% occurred in Africa. Despite concerted efforts, the goal of global malaria elimination has stalled in recent years. This has resulted in widespread calls for new ... |
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Gene Drives: Target Malaria is underestimating the risksC. Then, Testbiotech, 2023.
The Target Malaria consortium has for several years been planning to conduct field trials using genetically engineered mosquitoes in Burkina Faso. The aim is to transfer artificial gene constructs, i. e. the so-called ‘X-shredder’, into wild populations of the mosquitoes. ... |
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A mosquito population suppression model with a saturated Wolbachia release strategy in seasonal successionZ. Zhang, L. Chang, Q. Huang, R. Yan and B. Zheng, J Math Biol, 86:51. 2023.
Releasing Wolbachia-infected male mosquitoes to suppress wild female mosquitoes through cytoplasmic incompatibility has shown great promise in controlling and preventing mosquito-borne diseases. To make the release logistically and economically feasible, we propose a saturated ... |
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Wolbachia pipientis infections in populations of Aedes albopictus in the city of València (Spain): implications for mosquito controlR. Bueno-Marí, R. Domínguez-Santos, M. Trelis, E. Garrote-Sánchez, M. Cholvi, F. Quero de Lera, M. Khoubbane, A. Marcilla and R. Gi, Revista Española de Salud Pública, 97. 2023.
OBJECTIVE: The presence of Aedes albopictus, of high sanitary and social impact, was first reported in Valencia (Eastern Spain) in 2015. Innovative tools for its control include the use of the endosymbiotic bacterium Wolbachia pipientis. The release of mosquito males infected ... |
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Alleviating the burden of malaria with gene drive technologies? A biocentric analysis of the moral permissibility of modifying malaria mosquitoesN. de Graeff, K. R. Jongsma and A. L. Bredenoord, Journal of Medical Ethics, 2023.
Gene drive technologies (GDTs) have been proposed as a potential new way to alleviate the burden of malaria, yet have also raised ethical questions. A central ethical question regarding GDTs relates to whether it is morally permissible to intentionally modify or eradicate ... |
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Simulations Reveal High Efficiency and Confinement of a Population Suppression CRISPR Toxin-Antidote Gene DriveY. Zhu and J. Champer, ACS Synthetic Biolog, 2023.
Though engineered gene drives hold great promise for spreading through and suppressing populations of disease vectors or invasive species, complications such as resistance alleles and spatial population structure can prevent their success. Additionally, most forms of suppression ... |
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Gene Drive Technology With Agricultural Application PotentialR. Carmeli-Peslak, SeedWorld, 2023.
Gene drive technology, a genetic phenomenon that occurs in nature, causes a trait to spread in species through sexual reproduction over many generations. The inheritance rate is higher than the Mendelian rate which is 50%. Gene drives have been used for public health and ... |
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Biopolitik: The Promise of Gene DriveS. Todi, Technopolitik, 2023.
Gene drives are genetic elements of an organism that are transmitted to progeny at higher than mendelian frequencies (>50%). Gene editing techniques such as CRISPR–Cas9 have made gene drives extremely efficient in laboratory settings and have shown the potential to reduce the ... |
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A Zika virus-responsive sensor-effector system in Aedes aegyptiS. Basu, C. M. Reitmayer, S. Lumley, B. Atkinson, M. L. Schade-Weskott, S. Rooney, W. Larner, E. E. Montiel, R. Gutierrez-Lopez, E. Levitt, H. M. Munyanduki, A. M. E. Elrefaey, A. T. Clarke, S. Koit, E. Zusinaite, R. Fragkoudis, A. Merits and L. Alphey, bioRxiv, 2023.02.06.527261. 2023.
Zika virus (ZIKV) is a recently re-emerged flavivirus transmitted primarily through the bite of an infected mosquito, Aedes aegypti being the main vector. ZIKV infection is associated with a range of adverse effects; infection during pregnancy can lead to foetal abnormalities, ... |
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Ethical dilemma: Should we get rid of mosquitoes?Talya Hackett, TED-Ed, 2023.
Mosquitoes are responsible for more human deaths every year than any other animal, but very few of the 3,500 mosquito species actually transmit deadly diseases to humans. Scientists have been conducting experiments using engineered technologies called gene drives that could ... |
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Dynamics of an impulsive reaction-diffusion mosquitoes model with multiple control measuresY. Li, H. Zhao and K. Wang, Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering, 20:775-806. 2023.
It is well-known that mosquito control is one of the effective methods to reduce and prevent the transmission of mosquito-borne diseases. In this paper, we formulate a reaction-diffusion impulsive hybrid model incorporating Wolbachia, impulsively spraying of insecticides, spatial ... |
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Gene Drives Could Fight Malaria and Other Global Killers but Might Have Unintended ConsequencesM. Cobb, Scientific American, 2023.
Every year more than 600,000 people die from mosquito-transmitted malaria, most of them children under age five. Some insects that are disease vectors, such as mosquitoes, are currently expanding their range around the world, bringing new threats. Genetic engineering can fix this ... |
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CRISPR Gene Drives: A Weapon of Mass Destruction?J. Ng, Medium, 2022.
Gene drives allow scientists to “drive” new genes — and their associated traits — into wildlife populations at unprecedented rates. Here’s a simplified explanation of how gene drives work. In normal sexual reproduction between species with two copies of chromosomes, ... |
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Genetically modified mosquitoes … could CRISPR gene editing end malaria?D. Wells, SelectScience, 2022.
Despite being a preventable and treatable disease, malaria is currently affecting the lives of more than 200 million people.1 This results in over half a million deaths per year, with 80% of this mortality occurring in children under the age of 5.2 In addition to the tragic ... |
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Gene drive-mediated population elimination for biodiversity conservation. When you come to a fork in the road, take itB. A. Hay and M. Guo, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119:e2218020119. 2022.
How can the ability of t w2 to spread at super-Mendelian frequencies be utilized even if it is unable to directly drive the population to an unfit state? Gierus, Birand, and colleagues proposed placing Cas9 and a gRNA at a neutral position within the t haplotype. In this hybrid ... |
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New CRISPR tech makes it possible to wipe out invasive mice, 2022. |
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Bioinformatic and literature assessment of toxicity and allergenicity of a CRISPR-Cas9 engineered gene drive to control the human malaria mosquito vector Anopheles gambiaeA. Qureshi and J. B. Connolly, Malaria Journal, 2022.
Population suppression gene drive is currently being evaluated, including via environmental risk assessment (ERA), for malaria vector control. One such gene drive involves the dsxFCRISPRh transgene encoding (i) hCas9 endonuclease, (i) T1 guide RNA (gRNA) targeting the doublesex ... |
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A natural gene drive could steer invasive rodents on islands to extinctionB. Brookshire, ScienceNews, 2022.
In the battle against the invasive house mouse on islands, scientists are using the rodent’s own genes against it. With the right tweaks, introducing a few hundred genetically altered mice could drive an island’s invasive mouse population to extinction in about 25 years, ... |
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Should NZ use contentious gene tech in our war on pests?J. Morton, NZ Herald, 2022.
Gene-altering technology could offer “breakthrough opportunities” for saving our pest-threatened species, a new future-scoping report says, but there’d be some tricky issues to address before it’d be a realistic option. Scientists have already been exploring how these ... |
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The effect of mating complexity on gene drive dynamicsP. Verma, R. G. Reeves, S. Simon, M. Otto and C. S. Gokhale, The American Naturalist, 2022.
Gene drive technology promises to deliver on some of the global challenges humanity faces today in health care, agriculture, and conservation. However, there is a limited understanding of the consequences of releasing self-perpetuating transgenic organisms into wild populations ... |
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Independent evaluation of Wolbachia infected male mosquito releases for control of Aedes aegypti in Harris County, Texas, using a Bayesian abundance estimatorS. Lozano, K. Pritts, D. Duguma, C. Fredregill and R. Connelly, PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 16:e0010907. 2022.
Among disease vectors, Aedes aegypti (L.) (Diptera: Culicidae) is one of the most insidious species in the world. The disease burden created by this species has dramatically increased in the past 50 years, and during this time countries have relied on pesticides for control and ... |
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Independent evaluation of Wolbachia infected male mosquito releases for control of Aedes aegypti in Harris County, Texas, using a Bayesian abundance estimatorS. Lozano, K. Pritts, D. Duguma, C. Fredregill and R. Connelly, PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 16:e0010907. 2022.
Author summary Aedes aegypti is one of the most important mosquito species because females can potentially carry pathogens that cause disease. These diseases have a tremendous impact worldwide making this species an important target of control. We evaluated a mosquito control ... |
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Gene drive could be used to wipe out invasive mice on islandsM. Le Page, NewScientist, 2022.
For the first time, researchers have created a gene drive – a kind of genetic parasite – that could be used to eradicate mammalian pests such as mice by making them infertile. The technology could provide a humane alternative to the poison baits currently used to tackle ... |
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World first trial to eradicate mice through gene modificationI. Mannix, COSMOS, 2022.
Mouse populations could be eradicated in some areas through new gene modification technology to render female mice infertile. The technology – called t-CRISPR – was previously developed to target malaria-transmitting mosquitoes. This is the first proof of concept for its use ... |
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Gene drive technology to suppress invasive miceUniversity of Adelaide, Phys Org, 2022.
Researchers at the University of Adelaide have released their first findings on the potential effectiveness of revolutionary gene drive technology to control invasive mice. The team has developed a world-first proof of concept for the technology—called t-CRISPR—using ... |
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Leveraging a natural murine meiotic drive to suppress invasive populationsL. Gierus, A. Birand, M. D. Bunting, G. I. Godahewa, S. G. Piltz, K. P. Oh, A. J. Piaggio, D. W. Threadgill, J. Godwin, O. Edwards, P. Cassey, J. V. Ross, T. A. A. Prowse and P. Q. Thomas, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119:e2213308119. 2022.
Invasive rodents are a major cause of environmental damage and biodiversity loss, particularly on islands. Unlike insects, genetic biocontrol strategies including population-suppressing gene drives with biased inheritance have not been developed in mice. Here, we demonstrate a ... |
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Why we need to talk about ‘gene-drive’ grey squirrelsL. Clarke, DevonLive, 2022.
Would the best way of controlling the UK’s rampant grey squirrel population be to spread genetic changes throughout the species? A new research film, to be shown next month at Exeter Phoenix, sees scientists, conservation and wildlife experts debate the use of emergent ... |
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Monotonicity properties arising in a simple model of Wolbachia invasion for wild mosquito populationsD. Vicencio, O. Vasilieva and P. Gajardo, Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering, 20:1148-1175. 2022.
Using tools borrowed from monotone dynamical system theory, in the proposed model, we prove the existence of an invariant threshold manifold that allows us to provide practical recommendations for performing single and periodic releases of Wolbachia-carrying mosquitoes, seeking ... |
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Wolbachia Biology, Mechanisms and Applications 2022David O'Brochta, GeneConvene Global Collaborative, 2022.
Intracellular and extracellular symbiotic/commensal bacteria have enormous potential when manipulated and deployed appropriately to serve as agents of control of insects and the pathogens they transmit. Wolbachia, an intracellular bacteria, is a well studied system and one that ... |
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Anopheles homing suppression drive candidates exhibit unexpected performance differences in simulations with spatial structureS. E. Champer, I. K. Kim, A. G. Clark, P. W. Messer and J. Champer, eLife, 11:e79121. 2022.
Recent experiments have produced several Anopheles gambiae homing gene drives that disrupt female fertility genes, thereby eventually inducing population collapse. Such drives may be highly effective tools to combat malaria. One such homing drive, based on the zpg promoter ... |
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Wolbachia strain wAlbB remains stable in Aedes aegypti over 15 years but exhibits genetic background-dependent variation in virus blockingX. Liang, C. H. Tan, Q. Sun, M. Zhang, P. J. Wong, M. I. Li, et al., PNAS Nexus, 2022.
The ability of the maternally transmitted endosymbiotic bacterium Wolbachia to induce cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) and virus blocking makes it a promising weapon for combatting mosquito-borne diseases through either suppression or replacement of wild-type populations. Recent ... |
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Applications of gene drive systems for population suppression of insect pestsM. Asad, D. Liu, J. Chen and G. Yang, Bulletin of Entomological Research, 2022.
Population suppression is an effective way for controlling insect pests and disease vectors, which cause significant damage to crop and spread contagious diseases to plants, animals and humans. Gene drive systems provide innovative opportunities for the insect pests population ... |
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A confinable female-lethal population suppression system in the malaria vector, Anopheles gambiaeA. L. Smidler, J. J. Pai, R. A. Apte, H. M. Sánchez C, R. M. Corder, E. J. Gutiérrez, N. Thakre, I. Antoshechkin, J. M. Marshall and O. S. Akbari, bioRxiv, 2022.08.30.505861. 2022.
Malaria is among the world’s deadliest diseases, predominantly affecting sub-Saharan Africa, and killing over half a million people annually. Controlling the principal vector, the mosquito Anopheles gambiae, as well as other anophelines, is among the most effective methods to ... |
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World Mosquito Day: Can genetic modification techniques quash the menace?CNBCTV18, CNBC TV18, 2022.
Genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes are prepared in labs and are supposed to fight the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes which spread viruses including dengue, Zika, and chikungunya. Billions have apparently been successfully released in the US, Brazil, the Cayman Islands, Panama, and ... |
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Precision Guided Sterile Males Suppress Populations of an Invasive Crop PestN. P. Kandul, J. Liu, A. Buchman, I. C. Shriner, R. M. Corder, N. Warsinger-Pepe, T. Yang, A. K. Yadav, M. J. Scott, J. M. Marshall and O. S. Akbari, GEN Biotechnology, 1:372-385. 2022.
The Drosophila suzukii invasion of western countries has created an immense agricultural and economic threat to crop production. Despite many attempts to suppress its population, D. suzukii continues to destroy soft-flesh fruits. Precision guided sterile insect technique (pgSIT) ... |
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A theory of resistance to multiplexed gene drive demonstrates the significant role of weakly deleterious natural genetic variationB. S. Khatri and A. Burt, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119:e2200567119. 2022.
CRISPR-based gene drives have the potential for controlling natural populations of disease vectors, such as malaria-carrying mosquitoes in sub-Saharan Africa. If successful, they hold promise of significantly reducing the burden of disease and death from malaria and many other ... |
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What do we mean by “Target Organism” in Target Malaria’s gene drive research?J. B. Connolly, Target Malaria, 2022.
In the wild and in laboratory settings, sibling mosquito species can successfully mate to produce viable offspring, regardless of whether they are vectors or not. Importantly, females, but not males, of these offspring can be fertile. Nonetheless, the likelihood of finding such ... |
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Lack of robust evidence for a Wolbachia infection in Anopheles gambiae from Burkina FasoS. P. Sawadogo, D. A. Kabore, E. B. Tibiri, A. Hughes, O. Gnankine, S. Quek, A. Diabaté, H. Ranson, G. L. Hughes and R. K. Dabiré, Medical and Veterinary Entomology, 2022.
The endosymbiont Wolbachia can have major effects on the reproductive fitness, and vectorial capacity of host insects and may provide new avenues to control mosquito-borne pathogens. Anopheles gambiae s.l is the major vector of malaria in Africa but the use of Wolbachia in this ... |
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Gene drives and Africa’s battle against malariaAnnonymous, Africa Verified, 2022.
As malaria cases rise, and the effectiveness of current methods begins to fall, the WHO’s target of reducing the global malaria burden by 90% by 2030 will not be met. It is critical for new and resilient treatment, prevention, and control methods to be developed and integrated ... |
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Slow and steady wins the race: spatial and stochastic processes and the failure of suppression gene drivesJ. F. Paril and B. L. Phillips, Molecular Ecology, 2022.
Gene drives that skew sex ratios offer a new management tool to suppress or eradicate pest populations. Early models and empirical work suggest that these suppression drives can completely eradicate well-mixed populations, but models that incorporate stochasticity and space ... |
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Gene drive designs for efficient and localisable population suppression using Y-linked editorsR. Geci, K. Willis and A. Burt, bioRxiv, 2022.06.29.498122. 2022.
The sterile insect technique (SIT) has been successful in controlling some pest species but is not practicable for many others due to the large numbers of individuals that need to be reared and released. Previous computer modelling has demonstrated that the release of males ... |
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Public perspectives towards using gene drive for invasive species management in AustraliaA. Mankad, E. V. Hobman and L. Carter, CSIRO, 2022.
Many pest animal species live and reproduce in high numbers across Australia. This includes animal species, such as cane toads, feral cats, foxes, rodents, wild pigs, wild rabbits. These species significantly damage Australia’s agricultural industries, natural landscapes, and ... |
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Natural and Engineered Sex Ratio Distortion in InsectsA. Compton and Z. Tu, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 10. 2022.
Insects have evolved highly diverse genetic sex-determination mechanisms and a relatively balanced male to female sex ratio is generally expected. However, selection may shift the optimal sex ratio while meiotic drive and endosymbiont manipulation can result in sex ratio ... |
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Wolbachia interacts with the microbiome to shape fitness-associated traits during seasonal adaptation in Drosophila melanogasterL. P. Henry, M. Fernandez, S. Wolf and J. Ayroles, bioRxiv, 2022.05.31.494239. 2022.
The microbiome contributes to many different host traits, but its role in host adaptation remains enigmatic. The fitness benefits of the microbiome often depend on ecological conditions, but fluctuations in both the microbiome and environment modulate these fitness benefits. ... |
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Recommendations for environmental risk assessment of gene drive applications for malaria vector controlJ. B. Connolly, J. D. Mumford, D. C. M. Glandorf, S. Hartley, O. T. Lewis, S. W. Evans, G. Turner, C. Beech, N. Sykes, M. B. Coulibaly, J. Romeis, J. L. Teem, W. Tonui, B. Lovett, A. Mankad, A. Mnzava, S. Fuchs, T. D. Hackett, W. G. Landis, J. M. Marshall, Malar J, 21:152. 2022.
Building on an exercise that identified potential harms from simulated investigational releases of a population suppression gene drive for malaria vector control, a series of online workshops identified nine recommendations to advance future environmental risk assessment of gene ... |
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Wolbachia 16S rRNA haplotypes detected in wild Anopheles stephensi in eastern EthiopiaE. Waymire, S. Duddu, S. Yared, D. Getachew, D. Dengela, S. R. Bordenstein, M. Balkew, S. Zohdy, S. R. Irish and T. E. Carter, Parasites and Vectors, 15:178. 2022.
About two out of three Ethiopians are at risk of malaria, a disease caused by the parasites Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax. Anopheles stephensi, an invasive vector typically found in South Asia and the Middle East, was recently found to be distributed across eastern ... |
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Strategies to Mitigate Establishment under the Wolbachia Incompatible Insect TechniqueS. Soh, S. H. Ho, J. Ong, A. Seah, B. S. Dickens, K. W. Tan, J. R. Koo, A. R. Cook, S. Sim, C. H. Tan, L. C. Ng and J. T. Lim, Viruses, 14. 2022.
The Incompatible Insect Technique (IIT) strategy involves the release of male mosquitoes infected with the bacterium Wolbachia. Regular releases of male Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes can lead to the suppression of mosquito populations, thereby reducing the risk of transmission of ... |
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The effect of mating complexity on gene drive dynamicsP. Verma, R. G. Reeves, S. Simon, M. Otto and C. S. Gokhale, bioRxiv, 2021.09.16.460618. 2022.
Gene drive technology promises to deliver on some of the global challenges humanity faces today in healthcare, agriculture and conservation. However, there is a limited understanding of the consequences of releasing self-perpetuating transgenic organisms into the wild populations ... |
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Adversarial interspecies relationships facilitate population suppression by gene drive in spatially explicit modelsY. Liu, W. Teo, H. Yang and J. Champer, bioRxiv, 2022.05.08.491087. 2022.
Suppression gene drives are designed to bias their inheritance and increase in frequency in a population, disrupting an essential gene in the process. When the frequency is high enough, the population will be unable to reproduce above the replacement level and could be ... |
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Gene drive escape from resistance depends on mechanism and ecologyF. Cook, J. J. Bull and R. Gomulkiewicz, Evolutionary Applications, 2022.
Abstract 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 antidrive resistance will evolve ... |
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The sterile insect technique is protected from evolution of mate discriminationJ. J. Bull and R. Gomulkiewicz, PeerJ, 10:e13301. 2022.
Background The sterile insect technique (SIT) has been used to suppress and even extinguish pest insect populations. The method involves releasing artificially reared insects (usually males) that, when mating with wild individuals, sterilize the broods. If administered on a large ... |
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Propagation of seminal toxins through binary expression gene drives could suppress populationsJ. Hurtado, S. Revale and L. M. Matzkin, Scientific Reports, 12:6332. 2022.
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 ... |
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A homing suppression gene drive with multiplexed gRNAs maintains high drive conversion efficiency and avoids functional resistance allelesE. Yang, M. Metzloff, A. M. Langmuller, X. J. Xu, A. G. Clark, P. W. Messer and J. Champer, G3-Genes Genomes Genetics, 13. 2022.
Gene drives are engineered alleles that can bias inheritance in their favor, allowing them to spread throughout a population. They could potentially be used to modify or suppress pest populations, such as mosquitoes that spread diseases. CRISPR/Cas9 homing drives, which copy ... |
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Cas9-mediated maternal-effect and derived resistance alleles in a gene-drive strain of the African malaria vector mosquito, Anopheles gambiaeR. Carballar-Lejarazú, T. Tushar, T. B. Pham and A. A. James, Genetics, 2022.
CRISPR/Cas9 technologies are important tools for the development of gene-drive systems to modify mosquito vector populations to control the transmission of pathogens that cause diseases such as malaria. However, one of the challenges for current Cas9-based drive systems is their ... |
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Finding the strongest gene drive: Simulations reveal unexpected performance differences between Anopheles homing suppression drive candidatesS. E. Champer, I. K. Kim, A. G. Clark, P. W. Messer and J. Champer, bioRxiv, 2022.03.28.486009. 2022.
Recent experiments have produced several Anopheles gambiae homing gene drives that disrupt female fertility genes, thereby eventually inducing population collapse. Such drives may be highly effective tools to combat malaria. One such homing drive, based on the zpg promoter ... |
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A homing suppression gene drive with multiplexed gRNAs maintains high drive conversion efficiency and avoids functional resistance allelesE. Yang, M. Metzloff, A. M. Langmüller, X. Xu, A. G. Clark, P. W. Messer and J. Champer, bioRxiv, 2021.05.27.446071. 2022.
Gene drives are engineered alleles that can bias inheritance in their favor, allowing them to spread throughout a population. They could potentially be used to modify or suppress pest populations, such as mosquitoes that spread diseases. CRISPR/Cas9 homing drives, which copy ... |
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Symbionts and gene drive: two strategies to combat vector-borne diseaseG.-H. Wang, J. Du, C. Y. Chu, M. Madhav, G. L. Hughes and J. Champer, Trends in Genetics, 2022.
Mosquitoes bring global health problems by transmitting parasites and viruses such as malaria and dengue. Unfortunately, current insecticide-based control strategies are only moderately effective because of high cost and resistance. Thus, scalable, sustainable, and cost-effective ... |
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Rescue by gene swamping as a gene drive deployment strategyK. D. Harris and G. Greenbaum, bioRxiv, 2022.03.08.483503. 2022.
Gene drives are genetic constructs that can spread deleterious alleles with potential application to population suppression of harmful species. Given that a gene drive can potentially spill over to other populations or even other species, control measures and fail-safes ... |
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Gene drives and population persistence vs elimination: The impact of spatial structure and inbreeding at low densityP. J. Beaghton and A. Burt, Theoretical Population Biology, 2022.
Synthetic gene drive constructs are being developed to control disease vectors, invasive species, and other pest species. In a well-mixed random mating population a sufficiently strong gene drive is expected to eliminate a target population, but it is not clear whether the same ... |
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An Ethical Overview of the CRISPR-Based Elimination of Anopheles gambiae to Combat MalariaI. J. Wise and P. Borry, Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, 2022.
Approximately a quarter of a billion people around the world suffer from malaria each year. Most cases are located in sub-Saharan Africa where Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes are the principal vectors of this public health problem. With the use of CRISPR-based gene drives, the ... |
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A Closing Window of Opportunity for Gene Drive Governance in the United StatesK. L. Warmbrod, M. Montague and G. K. Gronvall, Health Security, 20:3-5. 2022.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought forth a number of biotechnological advances to enhance the public's health: new diagnostic tests, mRNA vaccines, and new antiviral medications. Biotechnology is also being used to address global challenges like climate change, food insecurity, ... |
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Uniqueness and stability of periodic solutions for an interactive wild and Wolbachia-infected male mosquito modelR. Yan and Q. Sun, Journal of Biological Dynamics, 2022.
We investigate a mosquito population suppression model, which includes the release of Wolbachia-infected males causing incomplete cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI). The model consists of two sub-equations by considering the density-dependent birth rate of wild mosquitoes. By ... |
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Monitoring Needs for Gene Drive Mosquito Projects: Lessons From Vector Control Field Trials and Invasive SpeciesG. Rašić, N. F. Lobo, E. H. Jeffrey Gutiérrez, C. H. Sánchez and J. M. Marshall, Frontiers in Genetics, 12:780327. 2022.
As gene drive mosquito projects advance from contained laboratory testing to semi-field testing and small-scale field trials, there is a need to assess monitoring requirements to: i) assist with the effective introduction of the gene drive system at field sites, and ii) detect ... |
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Lab-scale characterization and semi-field trials of Wolbachia Strain wAlbB in a Taiwan Wolbachia introgressed Ae. aegypti strainW. L. Liu, H. Y. Yu, Y. X. Chen, B. Y. Chen, S. N. Leaw, C. H. Lin, M. P. Su, L. S. Tsai, Y. Chen, S. H. Shiao, Z. Y. Xi, A. C. C. Jang and C. H. Chen, PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 16:24. 2022.
Author summaryPrior to open field release, new genetic approaches that interfere with mosquito abilities and reduce mosquito population density require progressive evaluation both in the laboratory and contained field trials. Trials in contained outdoor systems are thus an ... |
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Demographic feedbacks can hamper the spatial spread of a gene driveF. Debarre and L. Girardin, bioRxiv, 2021.12.01.470771. 2021.
This paper is concerned with a reactiond diffusion system modeling the fixation and the invasion in a population of a gene drive (an allele biasing inheritance, increasing its own transmission to offspring). In our model, the gene drive has a negative effect on the fitness of ... |
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Gene drive that results in addiction to a temperature-sensitive version of an essential gene triggers population collapse in DrosophilaG. Oberhofer, T. Ivy and B. A. Hay, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118:e2107413118. 2021.
One strategy for population suppression seeks to use gene drive to spread genes that confer conditional lethality or sterility, providing a way of combining population modification with suppression. Stimuli of potential interest could be introduced by humans, such as an otherwise ... |
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Propagation of seminal toxins through binary expression gene drives can suppress polyandrous populationsJ. 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 ... |
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High-resolution in situ analysis of Cas9 germline transcript distributions in gene-drive Anopheles mosquitoesG. 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 ... |
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Two years of laboratory studies on the non gene drive genetically modified sterile male mosquitoes concluded successfully in MaliM. Coulibaly, Target Malaria, 2021.
The Target Malaria Mali team at the Malaria Research and Training Centre (MRTC) based at the University of Sciences, Techniques and Technologies of Bamako (USTTB) is proud to have been the first Malian research team to work on non gene drive genetically modified sterile male ... |
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Malaria modeling and optimal control using sterile insect technique and insecticide-treated netL. 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 ... |
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Will freeing ourselves (forever) from mosquitoes soon be a realizable “dream”? Pros and cons of an epochal turning point – breaking latest newsAnnonymous, Breaking Latest News, 2021.
Also true for a dangerous insect like the mosquito: due to the pathologies of which vector, such as the malaria, the dengue o la yellow fever, every year in the world about 800 thousand people die. There are therefore quite a few reasons to want to get rid of it, not just the ... |
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Prevalence and molecular characterization of Wolbachia in field-collected Aedes albopictus, Anopheles sinensis, Armigeres subalbatus, Culex pipiens and Cx. tritaeniorhynchus in ChinaY. 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 ... |
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Conditional knockdown of transformer in sheep blow fly suggests a role in repression of dosage compensation and potential for 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 ... |
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A gene drive does not spread easily in populations of the honey bee parasite Varroa destructorN. R. Faber, A. B. Meiborg, G. R. McFarlane, G. Gorjanc and B. A. Harpur, Apidologie, 2021.
Varroa mites (Varroa destructor) are the most significant threat to beekeeping worldwide. They are directly or indirectly responsible for millions of colony losses each year. Beekeepers are somewhat able to control varroa populations through the use of physical and chemical ... |
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Gene drive and RNAi technologies: a bio-cultural review of next-generation tools for pest wasp management in New ZealandS. 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 ... |
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Discrete dynamical models on Wolbachia infection frequency in mosquito populations with biased release ratiosY. 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 ... |
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Gene drive escape from resistance depends on mechanism and ecologyF. 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 ... |
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Gene drives gaining speedE. 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 ... |
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Host-associated differentiation of target pests should be assessed before using gene drive as a pest control tool – an opinionR. 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 ... |
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Scientists eradicate malaria-transmitting mosquitos using genetic engineering which make females infertile in new study which takes one step closer to wiping out the disease worldwide.C. Ciaccia, Daily Mail, 2021.
Malaria kills nearly 500,000 people globally every year, but scientists have now figured out a way to use CRISPR gene-editing technology to make female mosquitoes infertile, described as a 'game-changer' for ending the deadly disease. Researchers from Imperial College London, ... |
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Genetic engineering may rid world of malaria-transmitting mosquitoesY. Steinbuch, New York Post, 2021.
Scientists have eradicated a population of malaria-transmitting mosquitoes by using genetic engineering to make the females infertile — in what the lead researcher called a possible “game-changer in bringing about malaria elimination.” A team of researchers — led by ... |
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Gene-Drive Technology Could Decimate Malaria-Carrying Mosquitoes–Scientists Use CRISPR to Modify the Insects’ GenesJ. Henry, Tech Times, 2021.
Gene-drive technology can now suppress the growing numbers of mosquitoes that carry malaria. A group of researchers discovered that this gene-editing technique can eradicate the vectors that could rapidly populate in a particular environment. A mosquito (Anopheles albimanus) is ... |
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Malaria-carrying mosquitoes could be bred out of existence using ‘gene drive’ technologyA. Wilkins, METRO, 2021.
Malaria-carrying mosquitoes have been eliminated using ‘gene drive’ technology in a nature-like environment, in a world-first study. By altering a gene that blocks female mosquito reproduction, and allowing that gene to spread, researchers found they could ensure complete ... |
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Scientists reveal controversial genetically modified mosquitoes in high-security labThe Frontier Post, The Frontier Post, 2021.
Many years of additional research will be needed to prove the approach works and the mosquitoes would be safe to release into the wild. The project would also require regulatory approval and agreement by local residents in areas where those mosquitoes live, mostly in sub-Saharan ... |
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Genetic engineering test with mosquitoes ‘may be game changer’ in eliminating malariaL. Geddes, The Guardian, 2021.
Scientists have successfully wiped out a population of malaria-transmitting mosquitoes by using a radical form of genetic engineering to render the females infertile – in the most advanced and largest ever test of use of the technology to fight the disease. As well as bringing ... |
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How An Altered Strand Of DNA Can Cause Malaria-Spreading Mosquitoes To Self-DestructR. Stein, NPR, 2021.
For the first time, scientists have shown that a new kind of genetic engineering can crash populations of malaria-spreading mosquitoes. In the landmark study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature Communications, researchers placed the genetically modified mosquitoes in a ... |
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A lab experiment shows that we could engineer malaria-carrying mosquitoes to kill themselves offA. Micu, ZME Science, 2021.
A new paper showcases how genetic engineering can be used to cause populations of malaria-spreading mosquitoes to self-destroy. An international research effort has shown, in the context of a lab experiment, that male mosquitoes engineered to carry a certain strand of DNA can ... |
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Malarial mosquitoes suppressed in experiments that mimic natural environmentsH. Dunning, Phys Org, 2021.
Researchers have shown "gene drive" technology, which spreads a genetic modification blocking female reproduction, works in natural-like settings. The team, led by researchers from Imperial College London, Polo GGB and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine were able to suppress ... |
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Gene-drive suppression of mosquito populations in large cages as a bridge between lab and fieldA. 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 ... |
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The Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) hsp83 Gene Promoter Drives Strong Ubiquitous DsRed and ZsGreen Marker Expression in Transgenic MosquitoesS. H. Webster and M. J. Scott, Journal of Medical Entomology, 2021.
Transgenic strains of the mosquito disease vector Aedes aegypti (L.) are being developed for population suppression or modification. Transgenic mosquitoes are identified using fluorescent protein genes. Here we describe DsRed and ZsGreen marker genes driven by the constitutive ... |
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Combating mosquito-borne diseases using genetic control technologiesG.-H. Wang, S. Gamez, R. R. Raban, J. M. Marshall, L. Alphey, M. Li, J. L. Rasgon and O. S. Akbari, Nature Communications, 12:4388. 2021.
Mosquito-borne diseases, such as dengue and malaria, pose significant global health burdens. Unfortunately, current control methods based on insecticides and environmental maintenance have fallen short of eliminating the disease burden. Scalable, deployable, genetic-based ... |
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Gene drive that results in addiction to a temperature sensitive version of an essential gene triggers population collapse in DrosophilaG. Oberhofer, B. Hay and T. Ivy, bioRxiv, 2021.07.03.451005. 2021.
One strategy for population suppression seeks to use gene drive to spread genes that confer conditional lethality or sterility, providing a way of combining population modification with suppression. Stimuli of potential interest could be introduced by humans, such as an otherwise ... |
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Wolbachia-mediated sterility suppresses Aedes aegypti populations in the urban tropicsProject Wolbachia-Singapore Consortium, medRxiv, 2021.
Incompatible insect technique (IIT) via releases of male Wolbachiainfected mosquitoes is a promising tool for dengue control. In a three-year trial in Singaporean high-rise housing estates, we demonstrated that Wolbachia-based IIT dramatically reduces both wildtype Aedes aegypti ... |
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New biocontrol research to help prevent mice plaguesAnonymous, The National Tribune, 2021.
Scientists at the University of Adelaide are partnering with the CSIRO and the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions on breakthrough genetic biocontrol research to help control mice populations and prevent future mice plagues. The three-year research program will identify fast ... |
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Experimental demonstration of tethered gene drive systems for confined population modification or suppressionM. Metzloff, E. Yang, S. Dhole, A. G. Clark, P. W. Messer and J. Champer, bioRxiv, 2021.05.29.446308. 2021.
Tethered drive systems, in which a locally confined gene drive provides the CRISPR nuclease needed for a homing drive, could provide a solution to this problem, offering the power of a homing drive and confinement of the supporting drive. Here, we demonstrate the engineering of a ... |
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A homing suppression gene drive with multiplexed gRNAs maintains high drive conversion efficiency and avoids functional resistance allelesE. Yang, M. Metzloff, A. M. Langmüller, A. G. Clark, P. W. Messer and J. Champer, bioRxiv, 2021.05.27.446071. 2021.
Gene drives are engineered alleles that can bias inheritance in their favor, allowing them to spread throughout a population. They could potentially be used to modify or suppress pest populations, such as mosquitoes that spread diseases. CRISPR/Cas9 homing drives, which copy ... |
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Scientists want to alter rodent genes to prevent mice plaguesP. Hannon, The Sydney Morning Herald, 2021.
Mice plagues, such as the one ravaging parts of inland NSW, could become a thing of the past if scientists succeed in modifying the genes of the rodents so that populations crash before they can take off. Paul Thomas, a researcher at the University of Adelaide, is part of an ... |
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Modeling and analysis of the implementation of the Wolbachia incompatible and sterile insect technique for mosquito population suppression.B. Zheng, J. S. Yu and J. Li, Siam Journal on Applied Mathematics, 81:718-740. 2021.
Mathematical analysis may offer guidance in designing effective mass release strategies for the area-wide application of this Wolbachia incompatible and sterile insect technique in the future. The two most crucial concerns in designing release strategies are how often and in what ... |
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Village hears from experts as genetic-mosquito release experiment nears.J. McCarthy, KEYSWEEKLY, 2021.
On March 18, Islamorada Village Council heard from several independent scientists who discussed information and issues behind the genetically modified mosquitoes for population and disease suppression. The scientists collectively said they’re neither for nor against the ... |
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Double drives and private alleles for localised population genetic controlK. Willis and A. Burt, PLOS Genetics, 17. 2021.
ynthetic gene drive systems that are able to spread though populations because they are inherited at a greater-than-Mendelian rate have the potential to form the basis for new, highly efficient pest control measures. The most efficient such strategies use natural gene flow to ... |
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The ethical scientist in a time of uncertaintyL. Zoloth, Cell, 184:1430-1439. 2021.
Using the example of gene drives for malaria control to explore the problem of deep uncertainty in biomedical research, I argue that profound uncertainty is an essential feature. Applying the language and presumptions of the discipline of philosophical ethics, I describe three ... |
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Ultra-conserved sequences in the genomes of highly diverse Anopheles mosquitoes, with implications for malaria vector controlS. M. O'Loughlin, A. J. Forster, S. Fuchs, T. Dottorini, T. Nolan, A. Crisanti and A. Burt, G3-Genes Genomes Genetics, 2021.
Here we search for conserved sequences of 18bp and over in an alignment of 21 Anopheles genomes, spanning an evolutionary timescale of 100 million years, and characterise the resulting sequences according to their location and function. Over 8000 ultra-conserved elements were ... |
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Meiotic Cas9 expression mediates genotype conversion in the male and female mouse germline.A. J. Weitzel, H. A. Grunwald, R. Levina, V. M. Gantz, S. M. Hedrick, E. Bier and K. L. Cooper, 2021.03.16.435716, 2021.
We previously showed that such a system of genotype conversion from heterozygous to homozygous after a sequence targeted CRISPR/Cas9 double strand DNA break is feasible in the female mouse germline. In the male germline, however, all double strand breaks were instead repaired by ... |
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Evading resistance to gene drivesR. Gomulkiewicz, M. L. Thies and J. J. Bull, Genetics, 217. 2021.
Here, we develop mathematical and computational models to identify conditions under which suppression drives will evade resistance, even if resistance is present initially. Previous models assumed resistance is allelic to the drive. We relax this assumption and show that linkage ... |
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Mosquito anxiety prompts query from congressmanT. Java, Keynews.com, 2021.
Anxiety among some residents over the pending release of hundreds of millions of genetically modified mosquitoes next month in undisclosed locations throughout the Florida Keys has prompted Congressman Carlos Gimenez to seek answers from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. ... |
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In Uganda, genetically modified mosquitoes bring hope and fearAnonymous, africanews, 2021.
Scientists here are investigating whether populations of the malaria-carrying insects can be reduced by genetic modification. They're looking at the viability of releasing large numbers of genetically modified mosquitos into the wild to influence future generations. The study ... |
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Genetically modified mosquitoes for better healthD. Devis, COSMOS, 2021.
One method of preventing these mosquito-born diseases is to use insecticides to kill the mozzies and remove them, but sometimes this only works as a short term solution, or has unintended devasting effects on the ecosystem. Another method for decreasing the number of ... |
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Tensions rise as GM mosquito release nears in Florida KeysT. O'Hara, Keynews.com, 2021.
Tensions seem to be rising as a planned release of genetically modified mosquitoes nears. The British-based biotech company Oxitec plans to release genetically modified Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in the Florida Keys sometime after April, but has yet to disclose exact locations in ... |
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Quantifying the risk of vector-borne disease transmission attributable to genetically modified vectorsG. R. Hosack, A. Ickowicz and K. R. Hayes, Royal Society Open Science, 8:201525. 2021.
The relative risk of disease transmission caused by the potential release of transgenic vectors, such as through sterile insect technique or gene drive systems, is assessed with comparison with wild-type vectors. The probabilistic risk framework is demonstrated with an assessment ... |
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Florida Keys moves forward with genetically modified mosquitoesH. Vela, local10.com, 2021.
The feared GMO mosquitoes are not going away. Opponents of the technology fear the date of the release in the Florida Keys is getting closer, and they are not ready for the possible repercussions of the experiment. The fight over whether or not to release genetically modified ... |
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When and where will millions of mosquitoes be released? Here are details for Florida KeysD. Goodhue, Miami Herald, 2021.
The Florida Keys Mosquito Control District announced this week a wide and vague planned range of deployment for the lab-designed mosquitoes — neighborhoods from mile marker 10 to 93. The trial is being conducted by British biotech company Oxitec. It’s a method approved by the ... |
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Mosquito trial will begin in April, but Keys locations won’t be disclosedS. Matthis, KEYSWEEKLY, 2021.
FKMCD spokesman Chad Huff wrote in an email, “The physical location of each box is still being finalized. Since most will be situated on private property at owner request, FKMCD-Oxitec will NOT be providing specific addresses due to privacy concerns and protection of project ... |
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Modeling impact and cost-effectiveness of gene drives for malaria elimination in the Democratic Republic of the CongoN. Metchanun, C. Borgemeister, G. Amzati, J. von Braun, M. Nikolov, P. Selvaraj and J. Gerardin, medRxiv, 2020.06.29.20142760. 2021.
Using a spatially explicit, agent-based model of malaria transmission in eight representative provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we predict the impact and cost-effectiveness of integrating driving-Y gene drive mosquitoes in malaria elimination strategies that ... |
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Oxitec gears up for test releasesT. O'Hara, Keynews.com, 2021.
The United Kingdom-based biotech company Oxitec will soon announce the test locations and timetable for releasing its genetically modified mosquitoes in the Florida Keys. |
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Exploring Gene Drive Technologies in Agriculture, Biodiversity and Human DiseaseThe GBIRd Partnership and The GeneConvene Global Collaborative, Gene Drive Research Forum, 2021.
The GBIRd Partnership and The GeneConvene Global Collaborative recently collaborated through The Gene Drive Research Forum, to create and produce an engaging conversation between Drs. Fred Gould and Charles Godfray about gene drive technologies – the potential benefits and ... |
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CRISPR and the splice to survive: New gene-editing technology could be used to save species from extinction—or to eliminate them.E. Kolbert, New Yorker, 2021.
About a year ago, not long before the pandemic began, I paid a visit to the center, which is an hour southwest of Melbourne. The draw was an experiment on a species of giant toad known familiarly as the cane toad. The toad was introduced to Australia as an agent of pest control, ... |
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Double drives and private alleles for localised population genetic controlK. Willis and A. Burt, bioRxiv, 2021.01.08.425856. 2021.
In this paper we propose and model a series of low threshold double drive designs for population suppression, each consisting of two constructs, one imposing a reproductive load on the population and the other inserted into a differentiated locus and controlling the drive of the ... |
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Next-generation tools to control biting midge populations and reduce pathogen transmissionP. Shults, L. W. Cohnstaedt, Z. N. Adelman and C. Brelsfoard, Parasites and Vectors, 14:31. 2021.
Biting midges of the genus Culicoides transmit disease-causing agents resulting in a significant economic impact on livestock industries in many parts of the world. Localized control efforts, such as removal of larval habitat or pesticide application, can be logistically ... |
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Mosquito Sexual Selection and Reproductive Control ProgramsL. J. Cator, C. A. S. Wyer and L. C. Harrington, Trends in Parasitology, 37:330-339. 2021.
The field of mosquito mating biology has experienced a considerable expansion in the past decade. Recent work has generated many key insights about specific aspects of mating behavior and physiology. Here, we synthesize these findings and classify swarming mosquito systems as ... |
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Control of malaria-transmitting mosquitoes using gene drivesT. Nolan, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 376:20190803. 2020.
In this article, I will discuss the relative merits of this type of gene drive, as well as barriers to its technical development and to its deployment in the field as malaria control. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Novel control strategies for mosquito-borne ... |
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Targeting female flight for genetic control of mosquitoesD. 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 ... |
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Modelling the Wolbachia incompatible insect technique: strategies for effective mosquito population eliminationD. E. Pagendam, B. J. Trewin, N. Snoad, S. A. Ritchie, A. A. Hoffmann, K. M. Staunton, C. Paton and N. Beebe, BMC Biology, 18:13. 2020.
We introduce a simple Markov population process model for studying mosquito populations subjected to a Wolbachia-IIT programme which exhibit an unstable equilibrium threshold. The model is used to study, in silico, scenarios that are likely to yield a successful elimination ... |
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The promise of CRISPR and gene drive systems to end malaria in AfricaE. Gomez-Diaz, ARRIGE ORG, 2020.
Presentation by Elena Gómez Díaz (IPBLN-CSIC, Granada, Spain) at the ARRIGE 2020 meeting on "The promise of CRISPR and gene drive systems to end malaria in Africa". Discussion is included at the end of the Ruud de Maagd presentation.https://youtu.be/te3MJ8EZoes |
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Gene drives, species, and compassion for individuals in conservation biologyY. Rohwer, Ethics, Policy and Environment, 2020.
In this paper I argue that these compassionate conservationists have a moral obligation to support the investigation and development of genetic modification technologies because of their potential to minimize suffering and eliminate killing in conservation. Furthermore, I will ... |
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When Extinction is Warranted: Invasive Species, Suppression-Drives, and the Worst-Case ScenarioA. C. Thresher, Ethics, Policy and Environment, 2020.
The focus of this paper is on one such risk ? the danger of a suppression-drive escaping containment and wiping out the target species globally. Here, I argue that in most cases this risk is significant enough to warrant holding off on the technology. In some cases, however, we ... |
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Gene Drives: A Controversial Tool to Fight MalariaH. Albert, LABIOTECH.eu, 2020.
The possibility of creating gene drives was introduced into the scientific community in 2003 by Austin Burt, a professor at Imperial College London. Burt was studying ‘selfish genes’ that can copy themselves into a specific target DNA sequence. He suggested that these genes, ... |
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Expert advises farmers to adopt gene drive-based pest control technologyS. Thompson, naija247news, 2020.
Dr Rose Gidado, County Coordinator, Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology(OFAB), has advised farmers to adopt the gene drive-based pest control technology. Gidado, also Deputy Director, National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), said the adoption would significantly ... |
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Fighting Mosquito With GMO Mosquito: The Battle Brewing in the Florida KeysS. MacLaughlin, NBC 6 South Florida, 2020.
Scientists are a few months into an experiment to stop the invasive Aedes aegypti mosquito. Their weapon of choice? A genetically modified mosquito. But some environment advocates question the strategy. This year, the Florida Keys had an outbreak of Dengue fever, which was ... |
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Evading evolution of resistance to gene drivesR. Gomulkiewicz, M. L. Thies and J. J. Bull, bioRxiv, 2020.08.27.270611. 2020.
Our analyses suggest that among gene drives that cause moderate suppression, toxin-antidote systems are less apt to select for resistance than homing drives. Single drives of this type would achieve only partial population suppression, but multiple drives (perhaps delivered ... |
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Florida will release 750 million genetically modified mosquitoesS. McGlaun, Slash Gear, 2020.
Local officials in Florida have announced that they have approved 750 million genetically modified mosquitoes to be released into the environment to reduce local populations of the bloodsucking creatures. The goal of releasing genetically modified mosquitoes is to help reduce the ... |
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Is Gene Editing the Answer to Eradicating Malaria in Africa?Staff, ASH Clinical News, 2020.
Researchers are looking at a new technique to eradicate malaria: Engineering mosquitoes with a “gene drive” – a gene that when inserted into mosquitoes (or other organisms) will be passed on to nearly 100% of the offspring in the next generation, rather than just half the ... |
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Engineered Gene Drives: State of Research Webinar Series by The GeneConvene Global Collaborative September-October 2020David O'Brochta and Hector Quemada, GeneConvene Global Collaborative, 2020.
A series of technical webinars on engineered gene drive technology research and development given by leading researchers in the field. |
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Viral gene drive in herpesvirusesM. Walter and E. Verdin, Nature Communications, 11:4884. 2020.
Here, we report on a gene drive system that allows the spread of an engineered trait in populations of DNA viruses and, in particular, herpesviruses. |
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You should be excited that scientists are releasing 750 million genetically modified mosquitoes this yearL. Westreich, Massive Science, 2020.
GM mosquitoes are successful in reducing mosquito populations, and reducing disease spread |
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The Con Job at Mosquito Control BoardE. Russo and B. Wray, keysnews.com, 2020.
Shouldn’t there be a consensus among scholars, scientists, experts and the public that this new technology is safe? |
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Resistance to natural and synthetic gene drive systemsT. A. R. Price, N. Windbichler, R. L. Unckless, A. Sutter, J.-N. Runge, P. A. Ross, A. Pomiankowski, N. L. Nuckolls, C. Montchamp-Moreau, N. Mideo, O. Y. Martin, A. Manser, M. Legros, A. M. Larracuente, L. Holman, J. Godwin, N. Gemmell, C. Courret, A. Buc, Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 2020.
This review summarizes our current knowledge of drive resistance in both natural and synthetic gene drives. We explore how insights from naturally occurring and synthetic drive systems can be integrated to improve the design of gene drives, better predict the outcome of releases ... |
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Risks of releasing gene drives mosquitoes – a possible future scenarioTestbiotech, Testbiotech, 2020.
Genetically engineering the genome of an organism with gene drive means that it will be replicated in every following generation. This allows the altered gene to spread rapidly throughout natural populations, which may be decimated or even eradicated. The video contains both ... |
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GMOs make war on mosquitoesStaff, Kenosha News, 2020.
Given that recent record, we were a bit surprised to read that there was a ruckus over genetically modified mosquitoes going on in the Florida Keys. |
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Why Genetically Modified Mosquitoes Won’t Come to Texas Anytime SoonC. Adams, RA News, 2020.
Talks about releasing genetically modified mosquitoes in Houston began in 2018 between Harris County and Oxitec, a United Kingdom-based company that produces sustainable technologies or transgenic methodologies to stem the impact of disease-spreading insects. Talk also began ... |
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An accident waiting to happen: Tech company to release 750 MILLION GMO mosquitoes in Florida to fight dengue feverZ. Sky, NEWSTARGET, 2020.
Oxitec plans to release 750 million OX5034s into the Florida Keys, something that sounds like the beginning of a doomed science-fiction movie. But the most shocking thing here is the fact that Oxitec received the EPA’s approval in May. |
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Genetically-modified mosquito plan offers hope for Keys, worldP. Goodman, keynews.com, 2020.
The Florida Keys Mosquito Control District Board of Commissioners voted 4-to-1 to approve a trial using Oxitec’s second-generation genetically modified mosquitoes. I |
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The good mosquito versus the badD. Datta, Business Standard, 2020.
Starting 2021, around 750 million genetically modified (GM) Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes will be released in batches into the Florida Keys. |
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Florida Will Release 750 Genetically Modified Mosquitoes to Stop Disease SpreadA. Fahmy, verywell health, 2020.
The hope is to prevent the spread of Dengue fever, a painful virus acquired only by mosquito bite which made a reappearance in the Florida Keys in 2009. |
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GeneConvene Global Collaborative Webinar SeriesDavid O'Brochta and Hector Quemada, GeneConvene Global Collaborative, 2020.
This is a series of public scientific and technical seminars by researchers actively involved in the research and development of engineered gene drive and related systems. Presentations will be aimed at other researchers and scientists, highlighting the latest investigations in ... |
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Evading evolution of resistance to gene drivesR. Gomulkiewicz, M. L. Thies and J. J. Bull, bioRxiv, 2020.
Here we develop mathematical and computational models to identify conditions under which suppression drives will evade resistance, even if resistance is present initially. |
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Deep dive: Florida’s GM mosquito experiment aims to rewrite rules of vector-borne diseasesS. Kannan, India Today, 2020.
A pathbreaking bioengineering experiment on mosquito populations that could have massive implications for tropical malaria-affected countries like India has got underway in Florida, US. |
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Fighting mosquito-borne diseases… with mosquitoesN. Gubert and A. Baubeau, Phys Org, 2020.
For decades, researchers have scratched their heads over how to combat deadly mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue fever. |
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Bug board OKs release of genetically modified mosquitoesT. O'Hara, keynews.com, 2020.
After nearly 10 years of debate, the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District board has approved an agreement with biotech company Oxitec to conduct a test release of genetically modified mosquitoes in Monroe County as part of a mosquito limiting or eradication plan. |
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Genetically modified mosquitoes to be released in the Florida Keys to combat dengue, zika, and yellow fever.Yucatan Times, Yucatan Times, 2020.
The Florida Keys will be the scene of the first test in the United States with genetically modified Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, an alternative to insecticides and larvicides to end the transmission of diseases such as dengue, zika and yellow fever that has always been surrounded ... |
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Transgenic moths released to end one of the worst pests on the planetB. Mandalia, Pledge Times, 2020.
Today the results of the first open field experiment with another of the creations of this biotechnology company are published. It is a variant of the moth Plutella xylostella which is one of the worst agricultural pests in the world. |
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750 million genetically modified mosquitoes soon released in the wild!explica, explica, 2020.
Rather frightening mosquitoes will be released on an archipelago in Florida. The goal? Reduce the population of their more dangerous congeners who can transmit certain diseases. |
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US to Use Genetically Modified Mosquitoes to Fight Dengue FeverH. Badr, Asharq Al-Awsat, 2020.
After a decade of discussions, officials in Florida have voted to allow the first test in the United States of free-flying, genetically modified mosquitoes that kill any female offspring, as a way to fight the pests and the diseases they spread. |
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Florida Keys to Use Genetically Modified Mosquitoes to Fight DiseaseB. Lynn, Voice of America, 2020.
Officials in the Florida Keys plan to release genetically modified mosquitoes next year in an effort to fight insect-borne diseases. |
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Florida Approves Controversial Plan to Release 750 Million Genetically Modified MosquitoesD. Rakshit, Swaddle, 2020.
Authorities in Florida have approved a pilot project that will release 750 million genetically modified mosquitoes locally, in a bid to reduce the populations of mosquitoes that cause that cause dengue, Zika, chikungunya, and yellow fever |
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Mutant bugs released to fight diseaseThe Day, The Day, 2020.
Authorities have approved the scheme in Florida but environmental groups are furious, calling it a “Jurassic Park experiment” that will unleash a “mutant bug” into the ecosystem. |
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More than 750 million GMO mosquitoes to be released over Florida Keys – what could go wrong?E. Huff, Natural News, 2020.
The Florida Keys Mosquito Control District (FKMCD) has given Oxitec, a corporation we have reported on in the past, permission to unleash some 750 million GMO mosquitos in Monroe County, Florida, over the next two years. |
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Florida to release genetically modified mosquitoes to prevent diseases like ZikaThe West News, The West News, 2020.
Local authorities on Tuesday gave final approval to release 750 million genetically modified mosquitoes in the Florida Keys over a two-year period, starting in 2021. |
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Genetically modified mosquitoes have been OK’d for a first U.S. test flightS. Milius, ScienceNews, 2020.
After a decade of fits and starts, officials in the Florida Keys have voted to allow the first test in the United States of free-flying, genetically modified mosquitoes as a way to fight the pests and the diseases they spread. |
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Florida Will Release Genetically Modified Mosquitoes to Fight Disease in the KeysS. Harrell, Spectrum News, 2020.
Following lengthy federal and state procedures, the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District this week approved a plan to release more than 750 million genetically modified mosquitoes in the Keys region to combat an invasive, disease-carrying species of the insect. |
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Florida is releasing 750 million genetically modified mosquitoes into the world. Here’s whyH. Schriber, Deseret News, 2020.
Florida officials plan to release 750 million genetically modified mosquitoes into the Florida Keys over the next two years as a way to prevent diseases like the Zika virus. The project will begin in 2021. The Environment Protection Agency approved the idea in May. The project ... |
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Genetically Modified Mosquitoes To Be Released In Florida KeysA. Snow, The Daily Wire, 2020.
CNN reported that the genetically modified bugs, called OX5034, have been “altered to produce female offspring that die in the larval stage, well before hatching and growing large enough to bite and spread disease.” Since it’s the female of the species that bite, they are ... |
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Release 750 Million Genetically Modified Mosquitoes Into the Wild, They SaidC. Delbert, Popular Mechanics, 2020.
Corporate scientists have received final approval from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to release hundreds of millions of genetically altered mosquitoes into the Florida Keys. The goal? To begin reining in the mosquito population, which is only expected to increase as ... |
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Florida releasing genetically modified mosquitoes to prevent diseases like ZikaN. Lanese, LiveScience, 2020.
Hundreds of millions of genetically modified mosquitoes will soon be released in the Florida Keys island chain to wipe out local populations of disease-carrying mosquitoes, according to news reports. |
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750 Million GM Mosquitoes Will Be Released in the Florida KeysL. Winter, The Scientist, 2020.
With the aim of reducing rates of the mosquito-borne illnesses yellow fever and dengue, a pilot program will release 750 million genetically modified mosquitoes into the Florida Keys in 2021, thanks to approval by the barrier islands’ Mosquito Control District Board of ... |
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Hundreds Of Millions Of Genetically Modified Mosquitoes Approved For Release In USJ. Vibes, Anonymous News, 2020.
A Biotech company called Oxitec has received permission from the government to release hundreds of millions of genetically modified male mosquitoes in the Florida Keys. |
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Why Hundreds of Millions of Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes Will Soon Be Released in FloridaK. Gander, Newsweek, 2020.
Hundreds of millions of genetically engineered mosquitoes will soon be released in Florida, in a first for the U.S. On Tuesday, the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District (FKMCD) approved plans to release the insects, who do not bite, as part of a pilot project launching next ... |
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Florida to release genetically modified mosquitoes, detractors blast ‘Jurassic Park’ experimentD. Aaro, Fox News, 2020.
Local authorities on Tuesday gave final approval to release 750 million genetically modified mosquitoes in the Florida Keys over a two-year period, starting in 2021, with the hope of preventing diseases such as the Zika virus but has faced blowback and comparisons to a Steven ... |
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750 million genetically modified mosquitoes to be released across Florida KeysA. Zahid, Sky News, 2020.
Authorities have approved plans for genetically modified mosquitoes to be released across the Florida Keys from next year. British-based firm Oxitec has designed the project to test whether the altered mosquitoes are a viable alternative to pesticides to control and prevent the ... |
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750 million GM mosquitos set for release in Florida Keys.Editorial Staff, E&T, 2020.
Local authorities have approved proposals to release hundreds of millions of genetically modified (GM) modified mosquitos in Florida, in an effort to control populations of diseases spread by the organism. |
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Florida Plans to Fix Its Mosquito Problem With 750 Million More MosquitoesD. Noor, Gizmodo, 2020.
Hundreds of millions of mosquitos will soon be released in Florida. On purpose. The mosquitoes are being released as a form of pest control, but they could wreak havoc on local ecosystems. |
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Florida mosquitoes: 750 million genetically modified insects to be releasedBBC, BBC, 2020.
Local officials in Florida have approved the release of 750 million mosquitoes that have been genetically modified to reduce local populations. The aim is to reduce the number of mosquitoes that carry diseases like dengue or the Zika virus. |
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Florida OKs release of genetically modified mosquitoes in Keys to slow insect disease spreadS. Mann, Just the News, 2020.
Florida officials are authorizing a biotech company to release hundreds of millions of genetically-modified male mosquitoes into the Florida Keys to reduce future mosquito populations that spread diseases including yellow fever and malaria. |
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Florida Keys to release modified mosqutioes to fight illnessC. Anderson, Associated Press, 2020.
Sometime next year, genetically modified mosquitoes will be released in the Florida Keys in an effort to combat persistent insect-borne diseases such as Dengue fever and the Zika virus. The plan approved this week by the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District calls for a pilot ... |
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Florida to Release Millions of Genetically Modified Mosquitoes Against Local Residents’ WishesN. Rice, People, 2020.
A plan to release over 750 million genetically modified mosquitoes in the Florida Keys has received final approval. According to CNN, on Tuesday, local authorities approved a plan to release the genetically modified mosquitoes in the Sunshine State's string of islands, with the ... |
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Plan to Release 750M GMO Mosquitoes Gets Go AheadR. Quinn, newser, 2020.
The plan to release the genetically modified Aedes aegypti mosquitoes received final approval from local authorities Tuesday, causing an outcry from groups opposed to what they call a "Jurassic Park experiment," CNN reports. |
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‘A Jurassic Park Experiment’: Watchdog Groups Denounce Decision to Release Genetically Modified Mosquitoes in FloridaL. Newcomb, Common Dreams, 2020.
Food safety and environmental groups Wednesday condemned a decision by officials in Florida to approve the release of 750 million genetically modified mosquitoes, a pilot project aimed at reducing the spread of mosquito-borne diseases. |
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Florida Keys to release 750M genetically modified mosquitoesD. Haynes, UPI, 2020.
Local authorities in the Florida Keys gave their approval Wednesday to a plan to release genetically modified mosquitoes to prevent the spread of dengue fever and other diseases. The Monroe County Mosquito Control District signed off on the project, which would release about 750 ... |
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To combat disease-spreading mosquitoes in the Keys, leaders vote to unleash lab bugsD. Goodhue, Miami Herald, 2020.
Florida Keys officials have voted to allow the experimental release of millions of genetically modified mosquitoes into a yet-to-be-decided area of the island chain. |
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Cytoplasmic incompatibility: an autocidal mechanism for mosquito population controlV. 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, ... |
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Maintenance management and eradication of established aquatic invadersD. Simberloff, Hydrobiologia, 22. 2020.
The rapid development of technologies based on genetics has engendered excitement about possibly eradicating or controlling terrestrial invaders, and such technologies may also prove useful for certain aquatic invaders. Methods of particular interest, alone or in various ... |
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Modeling the suppression dynamics of Aedes mosquitoes with mating inhomogeneityM. Huang and L. Hu, Journal of Biological Dynamics, 14:656-678. 2020.
In this work, we introduce a delay differential equation model with mating inhomogeneity to discuss mosquito population suppression based on Wolbachia. Our analyses show that the wild mosquitoes could be eliminated if either the adult mortality rate exceeds the threshold δ∗A ... |
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A One-Sided Competition Mathematical Model for the Sterile Insect TechniqueA. Ben Dhahbi, Y. Chargui, S. M. Boulaaras and S. Ben Khalifa, Complexity, 2020:12. 2020.
We study a simple mathematical model describing the dynamics of a wild-type pest insects population experiencing competition from sterile insects (one-sided competition). |
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Role of gene drives in malaria elimination strategy: modeling impact and cost-effectiveness in the Democratic Republic of the CongoN. Metchanun, C. Borgemeister, J. von Braun, M. Nikolov, P. Selvaraj and J. Gerardin, medRxiv, 2020.
The tremendous burden of malaria has led to renewed efforts on malaria elimination and the development of novel tools for application where existing tools fall short. Gene drive mosquitoes, where transgenes and their associated phenotypes are efficiently propagated to future ... |
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Gene Drive Webinars -ENSSER, CSS, VDW and SCEuropean Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility, , 2020.
This series of 5 Webinars by some of the authors of the interdisciplinary Gene Drive Report (2019) and were organised by four organisations of independent scientists: the European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility (ENSSER), Critical Scientists ... |
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Hope rises as scientists eliminate malaria mosquitoesA. Adeyemi, New Telegraph, 2020.
A team of researchers led by Imperial College London have spread a genetic modification that distorted the sex ratio through a population of caged Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes using ‘gene drive’ technology. According to the results of their study published yesterday in ... |
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Malaria mosquitoes eliminated in lab by creating all-male offspringsAishwarya, Inshorts, 2020.
Imperial College London-led team used 'gene drive' technology to spread genetic modification that distorted sex ratio through caged breed of malaria mosquitoes. This caused mosquitoes to produce more male offspring, eventually leading to no female birth. The study suggested such ... |
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Researchers use “gene drive” technology to eliminate malaria mosquitoes in lab experimentsJ. Ives, News Medical Life Sciences, 2020.
A team led by Imperial College London spread a genetic modification that distorts the sex ratio through a population of caged Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes using 'gene drive' technology. |
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Genetically-manipulated male mosquitoes could eliminate femalesB. Coxworth, New Atlas, 2020.
Several years ago, we heard how scientists were looking at eradicating malaria-carrying mosquitoes by making the females infertile. Now they're going a step further, by eliminating the females altogether. |
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Researchers discover way to eliminate malaria carrying mosquitoesS. Digon, International Business Times, 2020.
Researchers from the Imperial College London have come up with a genetic modification that will pave the way for the elimination of malaria mosquitoes. Scientists say that the alteration distorts the sex ratio of caged Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes using what they call a ‘gene ... |
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The malaria mosquito is eliminated in the lab by creating a population of all malesNewsDesk, Instant, 2020.
A team led by Imperial College London disseminates genetic modification that distorts the sex ratio through the Anopheles gambiae mosquito population that is locked up using ‘gene drive’ technology. |
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Gene editing and the war against malariaE. Bier and E. Sobber, American Scientist, 102:162. 2020.
Malaria is a devastating disease transmitted from person to person by mosquitoes. It kills more than 400,000 people per year, more than half of those deaths being children 5 years old or younger. CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) is a new ... |
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Gene editing could fight malaria by causing only male mosquitos to be bornL. Dormehl, Digital Trends, 2020.
What’s the theoretically easiest way to ensure that a population of mosquitos is not able to sustain itself through breeding? Make sure that there aren’t enough females, of course. That’s the exploratory approach being pioneered by researchers at the U.K.’s Imperial ... |
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Antiviral effectors and gene drive strategies for mosquito population suppression or replacement to mitigate arbovirus transmission by Aedes aegyptiA. E. Williams, A. W. E. Franz, W. R. Reid and K. E. Olson, Insects, 11:1-18. 2020.
The mosquito vector Aedes aegypti transmits arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) of medical importance, including Zika, dengue, and yellow fever viruses. Controlling mosquito populations remains the method of choice to prevent disease transmission. Novel mosquito control ... |
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Scientists release sterile mosquitoes in Burkina to fight malariaT. Ndiaga, Reuters, 2019.
Scientists in Burkina Faso have deployed a new weapon in the fight against malaria, and waded into a thorny bioethics debate, by letting loose thousands of genetically sterilized mosquitoes.Their experiment is the first outside the lab to release genetically altered mosquitoes in ... |
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The ethical implications of population suppression and the irreversibility of gene drivesJ. Kim, International Journal of Life Sciences Research, 2018.
This paper aims to examine the current situation by presenting important ethical arguments that include Chardin’s principle of irreversibility and Weiss’ beliefs on intergenerational equity, ideals upheld by the United Nations |
