The use of driving endonuclease genes to suppress mosquito vectors of malaria in temporally variable environments.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:The use of gene drive systems to manipulate populations of malaria vectors is currently being investigated as a method of malaria control. One potential system uses driving endonuclease genes (DEGs) to spread genes that impose a genetic load. Previously, models have shown that the introduction of DEG-bearing mosquitoes could suppress or even extinguish vector populations in spatially-heterogeneous environments which were constant over time. In this study, a stochastic spatially-explicit model of mosquito ecology is combined with a rainfall model which enables the generation of a variety of daily precipitation patterns. The model is then used to investigate how releases of a DEG that cause a bias in population sex ratios towards males are affected by seasonal or random rainfall p

SUBMITTER: Lambert B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5885365 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature