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Can CRISPR-Cas9 gene drives curb malaria?

Nature Biotechnology volume 34, pages 149–150 (2016)Cite this article

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Gene drives in mosquitoes to reduce the spread of malaria move closer, though technical and regulatory hurdles remain.

Gene drives are synthetic selfish genetic elements capable of spreading through wild populations despite conferring no fitness benefit on individuals that carry them. Although their potential for controlling pest insect populations has long been recognized, they have not proven easy to implement. Now, following the recent demonstration of a CRISPR-Cas9 gene drive in Drosophila1, two reports by Hammond et al.2 in Nature Biotechnology and Gantz et al.3 in the Proceedings of the National Academy describe the development of CRISPR-Cas9 gene drives that function in the malaria mosquitoes Anopheles gambiae and Anopheles stephensi.

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Figure 1: Nuclease-based gene drives.

Katie Vicari/Nature Publishing Group

References

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Affiliations

  1. and the Department of Zoology, Luke Alphey is at The Pirbright Institute, Ash Road, Woking, UK, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.

    Luke Alphey

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  1. Luke Alphey
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Correspondence to Luke Alphey.

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Competing interests

LA is a Visiting Professor at the University of Oxford and has equity interest in Intrexon Inc. Both organisations have intellectual property in the area of genetic pest management. LA's research program at the Pirbright Institute aims to develop various genetic pest management approaches with funding from various sources, including BBSRC, Horizon2020 and the Wellcome Trust.

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Alphey, L. Can CRISPR-Cas9 gene drives curb malaria?. Nat Biotechnol 34, 149–150 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.3473

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