Highly efficient Cas9-mediated gene drive for population modification of the malaria vector mosquitoAnopheles stephensi

Abstract

Significance Malaria continues to impose enormous health and economic burdens on the developing world. Novel technologies proposed to reduce the impact of the disease include the introgression of parasite-resistance genes into mosquito populations, thereby modifying the ability of the vector to transmit the pathogens. Such genes have been developed for the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum . Here we provide evidence for a highly efficient gene-drive system that can spread these antimalarial genes into a target vector population. This system exploits the nuclease activity and target-site specificity of the Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) system, which, when restricted to the germ line, copies a genetic element from one chromosome to its homolog with ≥98% efficiency while maintaining the transcriptional activity of the genes being introgressed.