Biological Control of Culex quinquefasciatus Say, 1823 (Diptera: Culicidae), the Ubiquitous Vector for Lymphatic Filariasis: A Review

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.

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

Harvey-Samuel,

Feng,

Okamoto

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Culexmosquitoes 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 inCulex. Here we test the first CRISPR-based homing gene drive forCulex quinquefasciatus, demonstrating the possibility of using this technology to controlCulexmosquitoes. 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 includeCulexalongsideAnophelesandAedes, and pave the way for future development of these technologies to controlCulexmosquitoes.

show abstract

Biological Control of Culex quinquefasciatus Say, 1823 (Diptera: Culicidae), the Ubiquitous Vector for Lymphatic Filariasis: A Review

Cited by 7 publications

References 52 publications

Efficacy of porous silica nanostructure as an insecticide against filarial vector Culex pipiens (Diptera: Culicidae)

Efficacy of porous silica nanostructure as an insecticide against filarial vector Culex pipiens (Diptera: Culicidae)

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

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

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