Transgenic Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes Transfer Genes into a Natural Population

In an attempt to control the mosquito-borne diseases yellow fever, dengue, chikungunya, and Zika fevers, a strain of transgenically modified Aedes aegypti mosquitoes containing a dominant lethal gene has been developed by a commercial company, Oxitec Ltd. If lethality is complete, releasing this strain should only reduce population size and not affect the genetics of the target populations. Approximately 450 thousand males of this strain were released each week for 27 months in Jacobina, Bahia, Brazil. We genotyped the release strain and the target Jacobina population before releases began for >21,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Genetic sampling from the target population six, 12, and 27-30 months…

• NI
  National Institutes of Health

  Awards: AI115595, UO1 AI115595
• CS
  Ciência sem Fronteiras
• NI
  National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases