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
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 releases of dsxFCRISPRh previously identified nine potential harms to the environment or health that could occur, should expressed products of the transgene cause allergenicity or toxicity.
Qureshi, A., & Connolly, J. B. (2023). 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. Malaria Journal, 22(1), 234.