title: Mechanisms of sex determination and transmission ratio distortion in Aedes aegypti.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  More effective mosquito control strategies are urgently required due to the increasing prevalence of insecticide resistance. The sterile insect technique (SIT) and the release of insects carrying a dominant lethal allele (RIDL) are two proposed methods for environmentally-friendly, species-targeted population control. These methods may be more suitable for developing countries if producers reduce the cost of rearing insects. The cost of control programs could be reduced by producing all-male mosquito populations to circumvent the isolation of females before release without reducing male mating competitiveness caused by transgenes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  An RNAi construct targeting the RNA recognition motif of the Aedes aegypti transformer-2 (tra-2) gene does not trigger female-to-male sex conversion as commonly observed among dipterous insects. Instead, homozygous insects show greater mortality among m-chromosome-bearing sperm and mm zygotes, yielding up to 100% males in the subsequent generations. The performance of transgenic males was not significantly different to wild-type males in narrow-cage competitive mating experiments.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data provide preliminary evidence that the knockdown of Ae. aegypti tra-2 gene expression causes segregation distortion acting at the level of gametic function, which is reinforced by sex-specific zygotic lethality. This finding could promote the development of new synthetic sex distorter systems for the production of genetic sexing mosquito strains.
authors.affiliation: University of Engineering and Technology, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, 144 Xuan Thuy, Cau Giay, 10000, Hanoi, Vietnam. kimhpoxford@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Kim Phuc
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Hoang
authors.affiliation: Advanced Agriecological Research Sdn. Bhd, No. 11 Jalan Teknologi 3/6, 47810, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia. tzeminteo@yahoo.co.uk.
authors.forename: Tze Min
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Teo
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Pathology, University of Arkansas, 495 N Campus Drive, Fayetteville, AR, 72701, USA. txho@uark.edu.
authors.forename: Thien Xuan
authors.initials: TX
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.affiliation: University of Engineering and Technology, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, 144 Xuan Thuy, Cau Giay, 10000, Hanoi, Vietnam. vinhbio@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Vinh Sy
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Le
mesh_terms: D000330:Aedes / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D005260:Female; D055785:Gene Knockdown Techniques; D005799:Genes, Dominant / Q000235:genetics; D005804:Genes, Lethal / Q000235:genetics; D007246:Infertility / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D009032:Mosquito Control / Q000379:methods*; D010572:Pest Control, Biological; D034622:RNA Interference; D012098:Reproduction; D019849:Sex Determination Processes; D012744:Sex Ratio; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal
references.citation: PLoS One. 2013;8(2):e48554
references.pmid: 23418412
references.citation: Nature. 1967 Oct 28;216(5113):383-4
references.pmid: 4228275
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1992 Jun 15;89(12):5547-51
references.pmid: 1319065
references.citation: Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 2012 Dec;12(12):1053-8
references.pmid: 22835152
references.citation: Dev Genet. 1994;15(3):275-96
references.pmid: 8062459
references.citation: Genetics. 2000 Jan;154(1):229-36
references.pmid: 10628983
references.citation: Genetica. 1987 May 15;72(1):69-79
references.pmid: 3505880
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1998 Jun 23;95(13):7520-5
references.pmid: 9636182
references.citation: PLoS Biol. 2007 Nov 6;5(11):e293
references.pmid: 17988173
references.citation: BMC Biol. 2007;5:11
references.pmid: 17374148
references.citation: PLoS Biol. 2007 Nov 6;5(11):e292
references.pmid: 17988172
references.citation: Science. 2000 Mar 31;287(5462):2474-6
references.pmid: 10741964
references.citation: Nucleic Acids Res. 1993 Dec 25;21(25):5803-16
references.pmid: 8290338
references.citation: Parasit Vectors. 2015;8:96
references.pmid: 25880645
references.citation: PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2014 Sep;8(9):e3115
references.pmid: 25211492
references.citation: Mol Biol Evol. 2011 Oct;28(10):2731-9
references.pmid: 21546353
references.citation: Proc Biol Sci. 2015 Jan 7;282(1798):20141932
references.pmid: 25392470
references.citation: BMC Evol Biol. 2011;11:41
references.pmid: 21310052
references.citation: EMBO J. 1990 Nov;9(11):3619-29
references.pmid: 2120049
references.citation: Science. 1999 Oct 29;286(5441):955-8
references.pmid: 10542150
references.citation: Reproduction. 2010 Jan;139(1):11-21
references.pmid: 19755484
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Sep 14;107(37):16166-71
references.pmid: 20805468
references.citation: Int J Dev Biol. 2009;53(1):109-20
references.pmid: 19123132
references.citation: Trends Parasitol. 2003 Aug;19(8):349-55
references.pmid: 12901936
references.citation: Development. 1998 Jun;125(12):2193-202
references.pmid: 9584119
references.citation: Dev Biol. 1983 Feb;95(2):512-7
references.pmid: 6402401
references.citation: PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2014 Dec;8(12):e3294
references.pmid: 25502564
references.citation: Science. 2015 Jun 12;348(6240):1268-70
references.pmid: 25999371
references.citation: Evolution. 2007 Apr;61(4):717-26
references.pmid: 17439607
references.citation: J Exp Biol. 2005 Oct;208(Pt 19):3701-9
references.pmid: 16169947
references.citation: Science. 1995 Jun 23;268(5218):1766-9
references.pmid: 7792603
references.citation: Science. 1967 Apr 28;156(3774):477-88
references.pmid: 6021675
references.citation: Biol Reprod. 2001 Jun;64(6):1730-8
references.pmid: 11369602
references.citation: BMC Evol Biol. 2010;10:140
references.pmid: 20465812
references.citation: Genesis. 2000 Apr;26(4):240-4
references.pmid: 10748461
references.citation: Nat Biotechnol. 2005 Nov;23(11):1414-7
references.pmid: 16244659
references.citation: Nan Fang Yi Ke Da Xue Xue Bao. 2013 Nov;33(11):1583-9
references.pmid: 24273257
references.citation: Genes Dev. 1990 May;4(5):789-805
references.pmid: 2116360
references.citation: Development. 1995 Sep;121(9):3079-88
references.pmid: 7555733
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Mar 9;107(10):4550-4
references.pmid: 20176967
references.citation: Parasit Vectors. 2013;6:206
references.pmid: 23856274
references.citation: J Med Entomol. 2004 Nov;41(6):1027-33
references.pmid: 15605641
references.citation: Indian J Med Res. 1977;65 Suppl:91-9
references.pmid: 615859
references.citation: Nature. 1989 Jan 26;337(6205):373-6
references.pmid: 2911388
references.citation: Genetics. 1966 Jun;53(6):1177-96
references.pmid: 5958915
references.citation: Parasit Vectors. 2014;7:68
references.pmid: 24524678
references.citation: Genetics. 1978 Mar;88(3):427-46
references.pmid: 17248804
references.citation: PLoS Genet. 2008 Dec;4(12):e1000291
references.pmid: 19057670
references.citation: Science. 1991 May 10;252(5007):833-6
references.pmid: 1902987
references.citation: Arthropod Struct Dev. 2007 Jun;36(2):233-43
references.pmid: 18089102
references.citation: Spermatogenesis. 2012 Jan 1;2(1):11-22
references.pmid: 22553486