Dominant lethality and insect population control.
Recent advances in insect genetic engineering have opened up new possibilities in the genetic control of insect vectors of human diseases. We outline the current state of the sterile insect technique and show how the use of engineered dominant lethals can greatly increase the effectiveness of this approach. We consider alternative strategies based on the use of conditional dominant lethals that are not always active in the environment.
Alphey
Luke
L
Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK. luke.alphey@zoo.ox.ac.uk
Andreasen
Morten
M
D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D005799:Genes, Dominant; D017344:Genes, Insect; D005804:Genes, Lethal; D005818:Genetic Engineering / Q000379:methods; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000235:genetics; D007313:Insecta / Q000235:genetics*; D010572:Pest Control, Biological; D011156:Population Density