A suppression-modification gene drive for malaria control targeting the ultra-conserved RNA gene mir-184
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Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Gene drive technology presents a promising approach to controlling malaria vector populations. Suppression drives are intended to disrupt essential mosquito genes whereas modification drives aim to reduce the individual vectorial capacity of mosquitoes. Here we present a highly efficient homing gene drive in the African malaria vector Anopheles gambiae that targets the microRNA gene mir-184 and combines suppression with modification. Homozygous gene drive (miR-184D) individuals incur significant fitness costs, including high mortality following a blood meal, that curtail their propensity for malaria transmission. We attribute this to a role of miR-184 in regulating solute transport in the mosquito gut. However, females remain fully fertile, and pure-breeding miR-184D populations suitable for large-scale releases can be reared under laboratory conditions. Cage invasion experiments show that miR-184D can spread to fixation thereby reducing population fitness, while being able to propagate a separate antimalarial effector gene at the same time. Modelling indicates that the miR-184D drive integrates aspects of population suppression and population replacement strategies into a candidate strain that should be evaluated further as a tool for malaria eradication.
Date Issued
2025-04-25
Date Acceptance
2025-04-04
Citation
Nature Communications, 2025, 16
ISSN
2041-1723
Publisher
Nature Portfolio
Journal / Book Title
Nature Communications
Volume
16
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2025 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Identifier
10.1038/s41467-025-58954-5
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
3923
Date Publish Online
2025-04-25