Context Researchers from California have developed a CRISPR-based system to safely restrain mosquito vectors via sterilization.
It is called the new precision-guided sterile insect technique, or pgSIT.
Mechanism
pgSIT uses a CRISPR-based approach to engineer deployable mosquitoes that can suppress populations.
It alters genes linked to male fertility — creating sterile offspring — and female flight in Aedes aegypti.
The mosquito species is responsible for spreading wide-ranging diseases including dengue fever, chikungunya, and Zika.
pgSIT uses CRISPR to sterilize male mosquitoes and render female mosquitoes, which spread disease, as flightless.
Why is this significant?
pgSIT eggs can be shipped to a location threatened by mosquito-borne disease
Once the pgSIT eggs are released in the wild, sterile pgSIT males will emerge and eventually mate with females, driving down the wild population as needed.
What is CRISPR?
CRISPR technology is basically a gene-editing technology that can be used for the purpose of altering genetic expression or changing the genome of an organism.
It can be used for targeting specific genetic code or editing the DNA at particular locations.
Potential applications: Correcting genetic defects, treating and preventing the spread of diseases and improving crops.
