Researchers Present a Pioneering Study on Effective Way of Blocking Malaria Transmission in Mosquitoes
Applying a strategy known as "population modification," involving the use of a CRISP-Cas9 gene drive system to introduce genes that prevent parasite transmission into mosquito chromosomes, researchers from the University of California have made a major advance when it comes to using genetic technologies to control the malaria parasites transmission.
Adriana Adolfi, a postdoctoral researcher from the University of California, Irvine, in collaboration with colleagues from the UCI, UC Berkeley, and UC San Diego, followed up on a pioneering effort of the group, to develop a CRISPR-based gene drive system for developing mosquito vectors resistant to the transmission of malaria parasites by increasing gene drive efficacy in "female mosquito progeny."
According to Anthony James, a UCI vector biologist, this study alleviates a big problem with the "first gene drive systems," which is the buildup of drive-resistant mosquitoes that could still spread malaria parasites.
James is also the Donald Bren Professor of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics and Molecular Biology & Biochemistry, who was the study's co-primary investigators.
ALSO READ: New Insecticide in Crystal Form, Efficient Against Mosquitoes and Malaria
The gene drive system, combined with genes for stopping transmission of parasites can now be utilized to design field-ready strains of mosquitoes.
The 'Second-Generation Gene Drive System'
As described in the paper, the second-generation gene drive system can be applied to one of the thousands of genes "essential for insects to survive or reproduce." This was according to the study co-author, Ethan Bier, a UC San Diego distinguished professor.
Bier, who is also a Tata Institute for Genetics and Society science director added. At the same time, the system has initially been developed din fruit flies, and it is readily transferrable to a broad choice of insect species serving as vectors for distressing disorders like "Chagas disease, sleeping disease, leishmaniasis, and arboviral diseases."
The study findings which Nature Communications published, describe a highly effective second-generation version of the original gene drive of the team, established for the Indo-Pakistani malaria vector mosquito Anopheles stephensi.
The work which came out in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences was a pioneering demonstration of a CRISPR-based gene drive in mosquitoes.
DON'T MISS THIS: UK Might Roll Out Antibody Tests With at Least 98% Accuracy by the End of the Year
A Pioneering Study
In that pioneering study, the gene drive was transferred to around 99 percent of progeny when the parent, in which the gene drive was inserted, was male although only between 60 and 70 percent of offspring when the parent in which the gene drive was injected was a female.
A substantial quantity of drive-resistant chromosomes is produced in females; this, in principle, could enable the said females to continue transmission of parasites.'
Adolfi, the new study's lead author, and collaborators addressed the failure to drive effectively through females by providing the gene drive with a purposeful copy of the target gene into which the drive is added.
As the study indicates, normal job if this gene is needed in this mosquito species for the survival of the female, as well as fertility after feeding on blood, and its functionality is typically interrupted when the drive system is added into the gene.
The Strategy
The resulting female mosquitoes presented strong and consistent drive in a population cage study, as well as the insignificant production of chromosomes which are drive-resistant.
This particular strategy of injecting a gene drive into a gene vital for fertility or viability, at the same time, adding a functional gene that saves the loss of feasibility or fertility offers a general solution to drive resistance through female species.
Furthermore, as with a catalytic converter that removes the combustion population from automobiles, the new strategy takes out genetic errors made during the drive process.
This particular gene drive system, combined with genes for stopping transmission of the parasite, can now be utilized to design field-ready strains of mosquitoes.
IN CASE YOU MISSED THIS: Tricare Issues an Apology Statement After Telling 600k Beneficiaries They've Had COVID-19.
Check out more news and information on the Invasive Mosquitoes and Malaria on MD News Daily.
Nov 04, 2020 01:00 PM EST
