Keywords: split drive

CRISPR/Cas9-based split homing gene drive targeting doublesex for population suppression of the global fruit pest Drosophila suzukii

A. K. Yadav, C. Butler, A. Yamamoto, A. A. Patil, A. L. Lloyd and M. J. Scott,  Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A,  120:e2301525120. 2023.
Genetic-based methods offer environmentally friendly species-specific approaches for control of insect pests. One method, CRISPR homing gene drive that target genes essential for development, could provide very efficient and cost-effective control. While significant progress has ...
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To fight berry-busting fruit flies, researchers focus on sterilizing the bugs

M. Walling,  KTAL News.com,  2023.
Paul Nelson is used to doing battle with an invasive fruit fly called the spotted wing drosophila, a pest that one year ruined more than half the berries on the Minnesota farm he and his team run. In recent years, they’ve cut their losses closer to 5%, but it’s been ...
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CRISPR/Cas9-based gene drive could suppress agricultural pests

North Carolina State University,  Phys Org,  2023.
Researchers have developed a "homing gene drive system" based on CRISPR/Cas9 that could be used to suppress populations of Drosophila suzukii vinegar flies—so-called "spotted-wing Drosophila" that devastate soft-skinned fruit in North America, Europe and parts of South ...
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Genetic conversion of a split-drive into a full-drive element

G. Terradas, J. B. Bennett, Z. Li, J. M. Marshall and E. Bier,  Nature Communications,  14:191. 2023.
The core components of CRISPR-based gene drives, Cas9 and guide RNA (gRNA), either can be linked within a self-contained single cassette (full gene-drive, fGD) or be provided in two separate elements (split gene-drive, sGD), the latter offering greater control options. We ...
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Researchers Create New System for Safer Gene-Drive Testing and Development

M. Aguilera,  UC San Diego Today,  2023.
In the journal Nature Communications, University of California San Diego researchers led by former Postdoctoral Scholar Gerard Terradas together with Postdoctoral Scholar Zhiqian Li and Professor Ethan Bier, in close collaboration with UC Berkeley graduate student Jared Bennett ...
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A confinable female-lethal population suppression system in the malaria vector, Anopheles gambiae

A. 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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A multiplexed, confinable CRISPR/Cas9 gene drive propagates in caged Aedes aegypti populations

M. A. E. Anderson, E. Gonzalez, M. P. Edgington, J. X. D. Ang, D.-K. Purusothaman, L. Shackleford, K. Nevard, S. A. N. Verkuijl, T. Harvey-Samuel, P. T. Leftwich, K. Esvelt and L. Alphey,  bioRxiv,  2022.08.12.503466. 2022.
Here, we test the regulatory sequences from the Ae. aegypti benign gonial cell neoplasm (bgcn) homolog to express Cas9 in the germline to find an expression timing more conducive to homing. We also created a separate multiplexing (targeting multiple different sites within the ...
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Propagation of seminal toxins through binary expression gene drives could suppress populations

J. 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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Genetic conversion of a split-drive into a full-drive element

G. Terradas, J. B. Bennett, Z. Li, J. M. Marshall and E. Bier,  bioRxiv,  2021.12.05.471291. 2021.
Gene-drive systems offer an important new avenue for spreading beneficial traits into wild populations. Their core components, Cas9 and guide RNA (gRNA), can either be linked within a single cassette (full gene drive, fGD) or provided in two separate elements (split gene drive, ...
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Propagation of seminal toxins through binary expression gene drives can suppress polyandrous populations

J. 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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CRISPR/Cas9-based functional characterization of the pigmentation gene ebony in Plutella xylostella

X. Xu, T. Harvey-Samuel, J. Yang, M. You and L. Alphey,  Insect Molecular Biology,  2021.
Abstract Body pigmentation is an important character of insects in adapting to biotic and abiotic environmental challenges. Additionally, based on the relative ease of screening, several genes involved in insect melanisation have been used in classic genetic studies or as visual ...
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Gene drive that results in addiction to a temperature sensitive version of an essential gene triggers population collapse in Drosophila

G. 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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Gene Drives Built to Follow More Stringent Rules of the Road

Anonymous,  Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News,  2021.
Gene drives, or systems that accelerate the spread of desirable genetic traits into a population, may be built to achieve specific levels of spread when released into the wild. By exerting control over the degree of spread, those who unleash gene drives may realize the benefits ...
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New gene-drive technologies can help control crop pests

Anonymous,  AZO Life Sciences,  2021.
The supposed gene drives, which exploit CRISPR technology to affect genetic inheritance, show the potential to quickly spread particular genetic traits across the populations of a specified species. For instance, gene-drive technologies used on insects are being developed to stop ...
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Inherently confinable split-drive systems in Drosophila

G. Terradas, A. B. Buchman, J. B. Bennett, I. Shriner, J. M. Marshall, O. S. Akbari and E. Bier,  Nature Communications,  12:1480. 2021.
CRISPR-based gene-drive systems, which copy themselves via gene conversion mediated by the homology-directed repair (HDR) pathway, have the potential to revolutionize vector control. However, mutant alleles generated by the competing non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) pathway, ...
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New ‘Split-drive’ System Puts Scientists in the (Gene) Driver Seat

M. Aguilera,  UC San Diego News Center,  2021.
Gene-drive technologies applied in insects, for example, are being designed to halt the spread of devastating diseases such as malaria and dengue by preventing mosquito hosts from becoming infected. In agricultural fields, gene-drives are being developed to help control or ...
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Split versions of Cleave and Rescue selfish genetic elements for measured self limiting gene drive

G. Oberhofer, T. Ivy and B. A. Hay,  PLoS genetics,  17:e1009385. 2021.
Self-sustaining Cleave and Rescue (ClvR) elements include a DNA sequence-modifying enzyme such as Cas9/gRNAs that disrupts endogenous versions of an essential gene, a tightly linked recoded version of the essential gene resistant to cleavage (the Rescue), and a Cargo. ClvR ...
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A CRISPR endonuclease gene drive reveals two distinct mechanisms of inheritance bias

S. A. N. Verkuijl, E. González, J. X. D. Ang, M. Li, N. P. Kandul, M. Anderson, O. S. Akbari, M. Bonsall and L. Alphey,  bioRxiv,  2020.12.15.421271. 2020.
In this study, we report the functioning of sds3, bgcn, and nup50 expressed Cas9 in an Aedes aegypti homing split drive system targeting the white gene. We report their inheritance biasing capability, propensity for maternal deposition, and zygotic/somatic expression. ...
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Split drive killer-rescue provides a novel threshold-dependent gene drive

M. P. Edgington, T. Harvey-Samuel and L. Alphey,  Scientific Reports,  10. 2020.
Population genetics mathematical models are developed here to demonstrate the threshold-dependent nature of the proposed system and its robustness to imperfect homing, incomplete penetrance of toxins and transgene fitness costs, each of which are of practical significance given ...
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Inherently confinable split-drive systems in Drosophila

G. Terradas, A. B. Buchman, J. B. Bennett, I. Shriner, J. M. Marshall, O. S. Akbari and E. Bier,  bioRxiv,  2020.09.03.282079. 2020.
Here, we test split gene-drive (sGD) systems in Drosophila melanogaster that were inserted into essential genes required for viability (rab5, rab11, prosalpha2) or fertility (spo11). I
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Assessment of a Split Homing Based Gene Drive for Efficient Knockout of Multiple Genes

N. P. Kandul, J. Liu, A. Buchman, V. M. Gantz, E. Bier and O. S. Akbari,  G3: Genes|Genomes|Genetics,  10:827-837. 2019.
Homing based gene drives (HGD) possess the potential to spread linked cargo genes into natural populations and are poised to revolutionize population control of animals. Given that host encoded genes have been identified that are important for pathogen transmission, targeting ...
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Assessment of a split homing based gene drive for efficient knockout of multiple genes

Kandul, N. P., J. Liu, A. Buchman, V. M. Gantz, E. Bier and O. S. Akbari,  bioRxiv,  2019:706929. 2019.
Homing based gene drives (HGD) possess the potential to spread linked cargo genes into natural populations and are poised to revolutionize population control of animals. Given that host-encoded genes have been identified that are important for pathogen transmission, targeting ...
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Split-gene drive system provides flexible application for safe laboratory investigation and potential field deployment

V. L. Del Amo, A. L. Bishop, H. M. Sánchez C, J. B. Bennett, X. Feng, J. M. Marshall, E. Bier and V. M. Gantz,  bioRxiv,  684597. 2019.
CRISPR-based gene drives spread through populations bypassing the dictates of Mendelian genetics, offering a population-engineering tool for tackling vector-borne diseases, managing crop pests, and helping island conservation efforts; unfortunately, current technologies raise ...
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