A CRISPR-Cas9 gene drive system-targeting female reproduction in the malaria mosquito vector Anopheles gambiae
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Gene drive systems that enable super-Mendelian inheritance of a transgene have the potential to modify insect populations over a timeframe of a few years. We describe CRISPR-Cas9 endonuclease constructs that function as gene drive systems in Anopheles gambiae, the main vector for malaria. We identified three genes (AGAP005958, AGAP011377 and AGAP007280) that confer a recessive female-sterility phenotype upon disruption, and inserted into each locus CRISPR-Cas9 gene drive constructs designed to target and edit each gene. For each targeted locus we observed a strong gene drive at the molecular level, with transmission rates to progeny of 91.4 to 99.6%. Population modeling and cage experiments indicate that a CRISPR-Cas9 construct targeting one of these loci, AGAP007280, meets the minimum requirement for a gene drive targeting female reproduction in an insect population. These findings could expedite the development of gene drives to suppress mosquito populations to levels that do not support malaria transmission.
Date Issued
2016-01-01
Date Acceptance
2015-11-23
Citation
Nature Biotechnology, 2016, 34 (1), pp.78-83
ISSN
1087-0156
Publisher
Nature Research
Start Page
78
End Page
83
Journal / Book Title
Nature Biotechnology
Volume
34
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© 2016 Nature America, Inc. All rights reserved.
Sponsor
Grand Challenges in Global Health
The Royal Society
Grand Challenges in Global Health
Commission of the European Communities
Grant Number
BURT05GCGH0
WM110082
BURT12/VCTR
267232
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
HOMING ENDONUCLEASE GENES
DROSOPHILA
SPECIFICITY
EXPRESSION
NUCLEASES
GERMLINE
TOOLS
Animals
Anopheles
Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats
Female
Insect Vectors
Malaria
Anopheles gambiae
MD Multidisciplinary
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2016-01-01