CRISPR-based gene drives generate super-Mendelian inheritance in the disease vector Culex quinquefasciatus

Harvey-Samuel, Tim, Feng, Xuechun, Okamoto, Emily M., Purusothaman, Deepak-Kumar, Leftwich, Philip T. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9500-6592, Alphey, Luke and Gantz, Valentino M. (2023) CRISPR-based gene drives generate super-Mendelian inheritance in the disease vector Culex quinquefasciatus. Nature Communications, 14. ISSN 2041-1723

Preview

PDF (Harvey-Samuel_etal_2023_NatureComms) - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

Culex mosquitoes pose a significant public health threat as vectors for a variety of diseases including West Nile virus and lymphatic filariasis, and transmit pathogens threatening livestock, companion animals, and endangered birds. Rampant insecticide resistance makes controlling these mosquitoes challenging and necessitates the development of new control strategies. Gene drive technologies have made significant progress in other mosquito species, although similar advances have been lagging in Culex. Here we test the first CRISPR-based homing gene drive for Culex quinquefasciatus, demonstrating the possibility of using this technology to control Culex mosquitoes. Our results show that the inheritance of two split-gene-drive transgenes, targeting different loci, are biased in the presence of a Cas9-expressing transgene although with modest efficiencies. Our findings extend the list of disease vectors where engineered homing gene drives have been demonstrated to include Culex alongside Anopheles and Aedes, and pave the way for future development of these technologies to control Culex mosquitoes.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Funding information: The research reported in this manuscript was supported by the University of California, San Diego, Department of Biological Sciences, by the Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health under award number DP5OD023098 (to V.M.G), by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases under the award number R01AI162911 (to V.M.G). National Natural Science Foundation of China grant number 82202559 (to X.F.). L.A. and T.H.S. were funded by the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council [BBS/E/I/00007033, BBS/E/I/00007038, and BBS/E/I/00007039 strategic funding to The Pirbright Institute.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	sdg 3 - good health and well-being ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/good_health_and_well_being
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Biological Sciences
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Biosciences Teaching and Education Research
Related URLs:	https://www.researchsquare.com/article/r...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	16 Jun 2023 08:31
Last Modified:	30 Jan 2024 03:49
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/92416
DOI:	10.1101/2023.06.12.544656

Downloads

Actions (login required)

View Item