Gene Drive System Based on CRISPR/Cas9 in Mosquito Control for Preventing Malaria

Abstract

Malaria is a disease transmitted by mosquitoes to humans and has symptoms varying from mild such as fever and headache to severe such as loss of consciousness, bleeding, or even death. Although there are a few other pathways to get infected with malaria, female mosquitoes belonging to the genus Anopheles infected by pathogen parasites belonging to Plasmodium have been considered as the predominant media of transmission, and elimination of this pathway could greatly assist in controlling the spread of malaria among populations. CRISPR/Cas9, as an emerging genome editing technology, functions by designed guide RNA (gRNA) for targeting sequence and Cas9 for cleaving targeted double-stranded DNA. Due to the great power of CRISPR/Cas9 in gene editing, it has significantly facilitated the study of mosquito control. This review describes the potential and applicable properties of the CRISPR/Cas9 system in restricting the spread of malaria via genetic screening of mosquitoes and gene-drive population suppression by modifying female mosquito fertility to reduce pathogen infection rate by targeting alleles from mosquitoes and pathogen to prohibit mosquito infections or retard the parasite development process. Furthermore, this review discusses the urgency that adjusting CRISPR/Cas9 technique to be affordable by more performers with low off-target effect. In conclusion, CRISPR/Cas9 system is expected to affirm the applicability of the technique in nature to restrict the spread of malaria among populations.