How to better control or eradicate deadly infections using transgenesis or genome editing…

Deadly infectious diseases, such as those transmitted through mosquitoes, are a huge threat to the human population. The rapid pace in the development of transgenesis technologies and genome editing over the last few years have raised many hopes, but also given birth to many fears.

Mosquito borne diseases: threats to human health

Mosquitoes transmit many infections, including malaria, dengue, yellow fever and chikunguna. These mosquito-borne diseases affect millions of people worldwide and are a huge cost burden for populations living in these endemic areas. It is a matter of urgency that new treatments are found to improve the quality of life, and to save lives. Unfortunately there are to date no efficient vaccines or drug treatments available to cure these deadly diseases. Preventive strategies such as bed-nets or insecticides are the mainstay for control and prevention of these diseases. However, insecticide resistance is developing at an alarming pace preventing any hope of controlling or curing these diseases. Recently however, the rapid developments in the genetic technologies such as transgenesis or genome editing have raised hope and confidence in combatting and controlling these diseases.

Mutating mosquitoes: A promising avenue to control these diseases.

Way before the rise of genetic technologies, back in the 1930’s, it was thought that these diseases could be controlled by releasing large numbers males mosquitoes sterilized with high dose irradiation. Native females that mated with sterile males would not produce any viable eggs. The Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) has proven successful in controlling pest such as fruit flies, however the success rate is variable due to the decreased fitness of the sterile males, competition from other males or immigration of pre-mated females.

With the discovery of gene knockout, PiggyBac, transposon mutagenesis, or, more recently RNA interference, the success of SIT technologies has significantly increased. This improvement has led to better disease control due to the prevention of the development of the mosquito larva or due to the exertion of a killing effect against the pathogens....

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