Nanos-Driven expression of piggyBac transposase induces mobilization of a synthetic autonomous transposon in the malaria vector mosquito, Anopheles stephensi.

ABSTRACT: Transposons are a class of selfish DNA elements that can mobilize within a genome. If mobilization is accompanied by an increase in copy number (replicative transposition), the transposon may sweep through a population until it is fixed in all of its interbreeding members. This introgression has been proposed as the basis for drive systems to move genes with desirable phenotypes into target species. One such application would be to use them to move a gene conferring resistance to malaria parasites throughout a population of vector mosquitos. We assessed the feasibility of using the piggyBac transposon as a gene-drive mechanism to distribute anti-malarial transgenes in populations of the malaria vector, Anopheles stephensi. We designed synthetic gene constructs that express the piggyBac tra

SUBMITTER: Macias VM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5580807 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature