Gene Drive Systems Effective in Suppression of Insect Pest Populations

Population suppression is an effective way to control insect pests and disease vectors that cause significant damage to crops and spread contagious diseases to plants, animals, and humans. A recent study available in the Bulletin of Entomological Research explores the advantages and limitations of using gene drive mechanisms for this purpose.

The authors of the paper explain how gene drive systems could help in addressing the problems caused by insect pests by driving genes that impart fitness costs on population of pests or disease vectors. The publication presents different categories of gene drives such as meiotic drive (MD), under-dominance (UD), homing endonuclease-based gene drive (HEGD) and especially the CRISPR-Cas9-based gene drive (CCGD), reviewing their history, types, process, and mechanisms in order to contribute to future studies in the field.

For more details, read or download the paper in the Bulletin of Entomological Research.