Abstract
OX513A is a transgenic strain of Aedes aegypti engineered to carry a dominant, non-sex-specific, late-acting lethal genetic system that is repressed in the presence of tetracycline. It was designed for use in a sterile-insect (SIT) pest control system called RIDL® (Release of Insects carrying a Dominant Lethal gene) by which transgenic males are released in the field to mate with wild females; in the absence of tetracycline, the progeny from such matings will not survive. We investigated the mating fitness of OX513A in the laboratory. Male OX513A were as effective as Rockefeller (ROCK) males at inducing refractoriness to further mating in wild type females and there was no reduction in their ability to inseminate multiple females. They had a lower mating success but yielded more progeny than the wild-type comparator strain (ROCK) when one male of each strain was caged with a ROCK female. Mating success and fertility of groups of 10 males—with different ratios of RIDL to ROCK—competing for five ROCK females was similar, but the median longevity of RIDL males was somewhat (18%) lower. We conclude that the fitness under laboratory conditions of OX513A males carrying a tetracycline repressible lethal gene is comparable to that of males of the wild-type comparator strain.
Highlights
Dengue is the most important arbovirus transmitted by mosquitoes; 2.5 billion people live in areas at risk of epidemic transmission [1,2]
Our studies demonstrated that the key aspects of the fitness of Ae. aegypti RIDL males carrying a tetracycline repressible lethal gene was comparable to that of ROCK males, an encouraging step towards the application of this transgenic strain and genetic control strategy
This conclusion is supported by recent field data showing that OX513A males can compete for mates with wild males in the field, and that sustained release can suppress a target field population of Aedes aegypti [29,30]
Summary
Dengue is the most important arbovirus transmitted by mosquitoes; 2.5 billion people live in areas at risk of epidemic transmission [1,2]. No vaccines are available for dengue or chikungunya, so mosquito control is the only option for reducing transmission. Conventional methods of control have proven insufficiently effective [1,2,3] so there is an urgent need for new and innovative strategies. Transgenic insects are receiving increasing attention for the control of mosquito-borne diseases [4,5]. It is feasible to create transgenic strains using transposons, fluorescent proteins and tissue- or stage-specific promoters [14,15], and several species of culicine and anopheline mosquitoes have been transformed [14,16]
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