Elimination of a closed population of the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti, through releases of self-limiting male mosquitoes
Background
Establishment of novel mosquito control technologies such as the use of genetically engineered insects typically involves phased testing to generate robust data-sets that support its safe and effective use as a vector control tool. In this study, we demonstrate the ability of the transgenic self-limiting OX513A Aedes aegypti strain to suppress a wild type Ae. aegypti population in an outdoor containment facility in India. OX513A is a genetically engineered Ae. aegypti strain with a repressible dominant self-limiting gene. When male adult OX513A mate with wild female adults, a single copy of the self-limiting gene is inherited by all the progeny, leading to death of >95% of progeny during larval/pupal development.
Patil, P. B., Dasgupta, S. K., Gorman, K., Pickl-Herk, A., Puinean, M., McKemey, A., … & Barwale, S. R. (2022). Elimination of a closed population of the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti, through releases of self-limiting male mosquitoes. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 16(5), e0010315.