Willy Kibet

About Willy Kibet

Posts by Willy Kibet:

Bioinformatic and literature assessment of toxicity and allergenicity of a CRISPR-Cas9 engineered gene drive to control Anopheles gambiae the mosquito vector of human malaria

September 22, 2023

Background Population suppression gene drive is currently being evaluated, including via environmental risk assessment (ERA), for malaria vector control. One such gene drive involves the dsxFCRISPRh transgene encoding (i) hCas9 endonuclease, (ii) T1 guide RNA (gRNA) targeting the doublesex locus, and (iii) DsRed fluorescent marker protein, in genetically-modified mosquitoes (GMMs). Problem formulation, the first stage of ERA, for environmental […]

A natural gene drive system confers reproductive isolation in rice

September 22, 2023

Background DUYAO-JIEYAO encodes a toxin-antidote system that confers hybrid male sterility DUYAO interacts with OsCOX11 to trigger mitochondrial malfunction and cytotoxicity JIEYAO detoxifies DUYAO by rerouting DUYAO to the autophagosome for degradation DUYAO-JIEYAO forms a natural gene drive system that may promote speciation in rice Such a natural gene drive could be engineered to reduce […]

A confinable female-lethal population suppression system in the malaria vector, Anopheles gambiae

July 20, 2023

Background Malaria is among the world’s deadliest diseases, predominantly affecting Sub-Saharan Africa and killing over half a million people annually. Controlling the principal vector, the mosquito Anopheles gambiae, as well as other anophelines, is among the most effective methods to control disease spread. Here, we develop a genetic population suppression system termed Ifegenia (inherited female elimination […]

Dual effector population modification gene-drive strains of the African malaria mosquitoes, Anopheles gambiae and Anopheles coluzzii

July 20, 2023

Background Novel genetic strategies for the malaria eradication agenda exploit Cas9/gRNA (guide RNA)-based autonomous gene-drive systems carrying antiparasite effector genes, and these effectively reduce prevalence and numbers of the human parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, in the African malaria mosquitoes, Anopheles gambiae and Anopheles coluzzii. Results from laboratory assessments of population gene-drive dynamics, transgene genetic loads, and parasite suppression efficacy informed modeling […]

Wolbachia-based strategies for control of agricultural pests

July 20, 2023

Background Wolbachia-based incompatible insect technique (IIT) and pathogen blocking technique (PBT) have been shown to be effective at protecting humans from mosquito-borne diseases in the past decades. Population suppression based on IIT and population replacement based on PBT have become major field application strategies that have continuously been improved by the translational research on Wolbachia-transinfected […]