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

Harvey-Samuel, T., Feng, X., Okamoto, E. M., Purusothaman, D.-K. , Leftwich, P. T., Alphey, L. and Gantz, V. M. (2023) CRISPR-based gene drives generate super-Mendelian inheritance in the disease vector Culex quinquefasciatus. Nature Communications, 14, 7561. (doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-41834-1) (PMID:37985762) (PMCID:PMC10662442)

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 a CRISPR-based homing gene drive for Culex quinquefasciatus, and 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: Articles
• Additional 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.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Purusothaman, Dr Deepak Kumar
• Authors: Harvey-Samuel, T., Feng, X., Okamoto, E. M., Purusothaman, D.-K., Leftwich, P. T., Alphey, L., and Gantz, V. M.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Infection & Immunity > Centre for Virus Research
• Journal Name: Nature Communications
• Publisher: Nature Research
• ISSN: 2041-1723
• ISSN (Online): 2041-1723
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 The Author(s)
• First Published: First published in Nature Communications 14:7561
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons license