From AlKhaleejToday
November 3, 2020
Using a strategy known as “population modification,” which involves using a CRISPR-Cas9 gene propulsion system to introduce genes that prevent parasite transmission into mosquito chromosomes, University of California researchers have made a great leap forward in the use of genetic technologies for the Control of the transmission of made malaria parasites.
Postdoctoral fellow Adriana Adolfi of the University of California at Irvine, working with colleagues from UCI, UC Berkeley and UC San Diego, pursued the group’s pioneering efforts to develop CRISPR-based gene drive systems to make mosquito vectors resistant to the transmission of malaria parasites Genetic drive in female mosquito offspring.
“This work alleviates a major problem with the early gene propulsion systems, namely the buildup of propulsion-resistant mosquitoes that can still transmit malaria parasites,” said UCI vector biologist Anthony James, Donald Bren Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics and Molecular Biology & Biochemistry, who co -Primary Investigator was involved in the study.