Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Matters Arising
  • Published:

Reply to: Assessing the efficiency of Verily’s automated process for production and release of male Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes

Nature Biotechnology volume 40, pages 1443–1446 (2022)Cite this article

Subjects

The Original Article was published on 26 May 2022

replying to: Bouyer et al. Nature Biotechnology https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-022-01324-z

We appreciate the comments from Bouyer et al. under their mandate as a United Nations agency program (‘to promote the safe and appropriate use of nuclear techniques and related technologies in food and agriculture’) on our paper1. The centuries-old fight against mosquito-borne disease has entered a new phase that is both exciting and fast-moving. Many promising technologies and techniques have been developed in the past 2 decades, including mosquito colonies stably infected with Wolbachia2, genetically modified sterile mosquitoes3,4, a CRISPR–Cas9-based gene drive5 and even combinations of these techniques with older approaches (that is, irradiated Wolbachia releases6,7). In a world where more than half of all humans are at risk of contracting mosquito-borne diseases across a range of economic and geographic landscapes, we think that an array of tools will be needed to turn the tide against the massive public health burden of these diseases.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Code availability

Custom scripts to calculate Fried’s index are available from the authors upon reasonable request.

References

  1. Crawford, J. E. et al. Efficient production of male Wolbachia-infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes enables large-scale suppression of wild populations. Nat. Biotechnol. 38, 482–492 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Xi, Z., Khoo, C. C. H. & Dobson, S. L. Wolbachia establishment and invasion in an Aedes aegypti laboratory population. Science 310, 326–328 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Phuc, H. K. et al. Late-acting dominant lethal genetic systems and mosquito control. BMC Biol. 5, 11 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Kandul, N. P. et al. Transforming insect population control with precision guided sterile males with demonstration in flies. Nat. Commun. 10, 84 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Kyrou, K. et al. A CRISPR–Cas9 gene drive targeting doublesex causes complete population suppression in caged Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes. Nat. Biotechnol. 36, 1062–1066 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Kittayapong, P. et al. Combined sterile insect technique and incompatible insect technique: the first proof-of-concept to suppress Aedes aegypti vector populations in semi-rural settings in Thailand. PLoS Negl. Trop. Dis. 13, e0007771 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Zheng, X. et al. Incompatible and sterile insect techniques combined eliminate mosquitoes. Nature 572, 56–61 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Ryan, P. A. et al. Establishment of wMel Wolbachia in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and reduction of local dengue transmission in Cairns and surrounding locations in northern Queensland, Australia. Gates Open Res. 3, 1547 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Indriani, C. et al. Reduced dengue incidence following deployments of Wolbachia-infected Aedes aegypti in Yogyakarta, Indonesia: a quasi-experimental trial using controlled interrupted time series analysis. Gates Open Res. 4, 50 (2020).

  10. Velez, I. D. et al. The impact of city-wide deployment of Wolbachia-carrying mosquitoes on arboviral disease incidence in Medellín and Bello, Colombia: study protocol for an interrupted time-series analysis and a test-negative design study. F1000Res. 8, 1327 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Durovni, B. et al. The impact of large-scale deployment of Wolbachia mosquitoes on dengue and other Aedes-borne diseases in Rio de Janeiro and Niterói, Brazil: study protocol for a controlled interrupted time series analysis using routine disease surveillance data. F1000Res. 8, 1328 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. O’Connor, L. et al. Open release of male mosquitoes infected with a Wolbachia biopesticide: field performance and infection containment. PLoS Negl. Trop. Dis. 6, e1797 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Nazni, W. A. et al. Establishment of Wolbachia strain wAlbB in Malaysian populations of Aedes aegypti for dengue control. Curr. Biol. 29, 4241–4248 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Klassen, W. & Curtis, C. F. In: Sterile Insect Technique (eds Dyck, V. A., Hendrichs, J. & Robinson, A. S.) 3–36 (Springer-Verlag, 2005).

  15. Fried, M. Determination of sterile-insect competitiveness. J. Econ. Entomol. 64, 869–872 (1971).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Bouyer, J. et al. Field performance of sterile male mosquitoes released from an uncrewed aerial vehicle. Sci. Robot. 5, eaba6251 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Krafsur, E. S., Whitten, C. J. & Novy, J. E. Screwworm eradication in North and Central America. Parasitol. Today 3, 131–137 (1987).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Hendrichs, J., Ortiz, G., Liedo, P. & Schwarz, A. Six years of successful medfly program in Mexico and Guatemala. In: Fruit Flies of Economic Importance (ed Cavalloro, R.) 353–365 (A. A. Balkema, 1983).

  19. Helinski, M. E. H., Parker, A. G. & Knols, B. G. J. Radiation-induced sterility for pupal and adult stages of the malaria mosquito Anopheles arabiensis. Malar. J. 5, 41 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Helinski, M. E. H., Parker, A. G. & Knols, B. G. J. Radiation biology of mosquitoes. Malar. J. 8 Suppl 2, S6 (2009).

  21. Benedict, M. Q. & Robinson, A. S. The first releases of transgenic mosquitoes: an argument for the sterile insect technique. Trends Parasitol. 19, 349–355 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Culbert, N. J. et al. Longevity of mass-reared, irradiated and packed male Anopheles arabiensis and Aedes aegypti under simulated environmental field conditions. Parasit. Vectors 11, 603 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Culbert, N. J. et al. A rapid quality control test to foster the development of genetic control in mosquitoes. Sci. Rep. 8, 16179 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Bentley, D. R. et al. Accurate whole human genome sequencing using reversible terminator chemistry. Nature 456, 53–59 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Carlson, R. The pace and proliferation of biological technologies. Biosecur. Bioterror. 1, 203–214 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. The Wolbachia Project–Singapore Consortium & Ching, N. L. Wolbachia-mediated sterility suppresses Aedes aegypti populations in the urban tropics. Preprint at https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.06.16.21257922v1 (2021).

  27. Soh, S. et al. Economic impact of dengue in Singapore from 2010 to 2020 and the cost-effectiveness of Wolbachia interventions. PLoS Global Public Health https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0000024 (2021).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Verily Life Sciences, South San Francisco, CA, USA

    Jacob E. Crawford, Kaycie C. Hopkins, Anna Buchman, Tiantian Zha, Paul Howell, Evdoxia Kakani, Johanna R. Ohm, Nigel Snoad, Linus Upson, Peter Massaro & Bradley J. White

  2. Consolidated Mosquito Abatement District, Parlier, CA, USA

    Jodi Holeman & F. Stephen Mulligan

  3. MosquitoMate Inc., Lexington, KY, USA

    Stephen L. Dobson

  4. Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA

    Stephen L. Dobson

Authors
  1. Jacob E. Crawford
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kaycie C. Hopkins
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Anna Buchman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Tiantian Zha
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Paul Howell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Evdoxia Kakani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Johanna R. Ohm
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Nigel Snoad
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Linus Upson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Jodi Holeman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Peter Massaro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  12. Stephen L. Dobson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  13. F. Stephen Mulligan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  14. Bradley J. White
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

J.E.C performed data analysis. J.E.C. and B.J.W. wrote the manuscript with editorial contributions from all authors.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jacob E. Crawford or Bradley J. White.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

J.E.C., K.C.H., A.B., T.Z., P.H., J.R.O., E.K., N.S., L.U., P.M. and B.J.W. were paid employees of Verily Life Sciences, a for-profit company developing products for mosquito control, at the time they contributed to this response. S.L.D. was a paid employee of MosquitoMate, a for-profit company developing products for mosquito control, at the time they contributed to this response. S.L.D. and the University of Kentucky Research Foundation hold a patent (US7868222B1) on the use of Wolbachia for mosquito control.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Crawford, J.E., Hopkins, K.C., Buchman, A. et al. Reply to: Assessing the efficiency of Verily’s automated process for production and release of male Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes. Nat Biotechnol 40, 1443–1446 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-022-01325-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-022-01325-y

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing: Translational Research

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Translational Research newsletter — top stories in biotechnology, drug discovery and pharma.

Get what matters in translational research, free to your inbox weekly. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Translational Research