Ellis, David A;
Avraam, George;
Hoermann, Astrid;
Wyer, Claudia AS;
Ong, Yi Xin;
Christophides, George K;
Windbichler, Nikolai;
(2022)
Testing non-autonomous antimalarial gene drive effectors using self-eliminating drivers in the African mosquito vector Anopheles gambiae.
PLOS Genetics
, 18
(6)
, Article e1010244. 10.1371/journal.pgen.1010244.
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Abstract
Gene drives for mosquito population modification are novel tools for malaria control. Strategies to safely test antimalarial effectors in the field are required. Here, we modified the Anopheles gambiae zpg locus to host a CRISPR/Cas9 integral gene drive allele (zpgD) and characterized its behaviour and resistance profile. We found that zpgD dominantly sterilizes females but can induce efficient drive at other loci when it itself encounters resistance. We combined zpgD with multiple previously characterized non-autonomous payload drives and found that, as zpgD self-eliminates, it leads to conversion of mosquito cage populations at these loci. Our results demonstrate how self-eliminating drivers could allow safe testing of non-autonomous effector-traits by local population modification. They also suggest that after engendering resistance, gene drives intended for population suppression could nevertheless serve to propagate subsequently released non-autonomous payload genes, allowing modification of vector populations initially targeted for suppression.
Type: | Article |
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Title: | Testing non-autonomous antimalarial gene drive effectors using self-eliminating drivers in the African mosquito vector Anopheles gambiae |
Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pgen.1010244 |
Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1010244 |
Language: | English |
Additional information: | © 2022 Ellis et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > The Ear Institute |
URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10164190 |
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