Modeling the efficacy of CRISPR gene drive for snail immunity on schistosomiasis control.

ABSTRACT: CRISPR gene drives could revolutionize the control of infectious diseases by accelerating the spread of engineered traits that limit parasite transmission in wild populations. Gene drive technology in mollusks has received little attention despite the role of freshwater snails as hosts of parasitic flukes causing 200 million annual cases of schistosomiasis. A successful drive in snails must overcome self-fertilization, a common feature of host snails which could prevents a drive's spread. Here we developed a novel population genetic model accounting for snails' mixed mating and population dynamics, susceptibility to parasite infection regulated by multiple alleles, fitness differences between genotypes, and a range of drive characteristics. We integrated this model with an epidemiological

SUBMITTER: Grewelle RE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9648845 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature