In the 1970s, at a WHO sponsored Unit in India, Culex and Aedes strains were tested over many generations in outdoor cages and for mating competitiveness in the field. These strains carried (a) bi-directional cytoplasmic incompatibiliy with respect to the local wild type plus a male linked double translocation, (b) meiotic drive causing sex ratio distortion, plus two translocations.
Unfortunately the inclusion of Aedes aegypti, the “yellow fever mosquito”, in the work programme led a journalist and politicians to claim that the intention of the research unit was not vector control, but collection of data on biological warfare. These claims led to destruction of the unit. This should be a warning of the need, when considering release of genetically abnormal mosquitoes (even where only non-biting males are to be released), to handle relations with the media and politicians with extreme care.
In considering the driving of transgenes causing inability to transmit disease into wild populations, too little attention has, in the author’s opinion, been given to the likelihood of (a) genetic recombination between the driving systems and the transgenes, and (b) reduced fitness of the transgenes. The likely result will be fixation in the population of the driver, detached from the transgene. It may be more feasible to use transgenesis as a way of improving male sterilization and separation of the males to be released from any biting females.
Keywords: Gene drive
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