Mosquitoes spread viruses that cause potentially deadly diseases such as Zika, dengue fever and yellow fever. New research uses gene editing to render certain male mosquitoes infertile and slow the spread of these diseases.
Researchers at the Army’s Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies and the University of California Santa Barbara used a gene editing tool known as CRISPR-Cas9 to target a specific gene tied to fertility in male mosquitoes. CRISPR-Cas9 is a genome editing tool that is creating a buzz in the science world, according to yourgenome.org. It is «faster, cheaper and more accurate than previous techniques of editing DNA and has a wide range of potential applications.»
Researchers experimented with the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which are found in tropical, subtropical and temperate regions throughout the world. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, discerned how a mutation can suppress the fertility of female mosquitoes.
«This is yet one more important and exciting example of how synthetic biology tools are demonstrating unparalleled utility,» said Dr. James Burgess, ICB program manager for the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, now known as DEVCOM, Army Research Laboratory. «In this case, it’s a precision increase from chainsaw to a scalpel leading to the correct biochemical outcome that could substantially reduce the population of a very infectious mosquito.»
To manage populations, scientists use a vector-control practice called the sterile insect technique in which they raise a lot of sterile male insects and they then release these males in numbers that overwhelm their wild counterparts. Females that mate with sterile males before finding a fertile one are themselves rendered infertile, thereby decreasing the size of the next generation.
Repeating this technique several times has the potential to crash the population because each generation is smaller than the last; releasing a similar number of sterile males has a stronger effect over time.
Story Source:
Materials provided by U.S. Army Research Laboratory. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.