Rules of the road for insect gene drive research and testing

Abstract

Approximately two years ago, two of us (E.B. and V.G.) demonstrated the first experimental application of CRISPR–Cas9 to 'drive' a desired trait throughout a population of fruit flies. In November 2015, this same team at the University of California, San Diego, joined with A.A.J. and others at the University of California, Irvine, to develop a CRISPR-based gene drive for population modification of the malaria vector mosquito Anopheles stephensi. A month later, a group in the United Kingdom applied a CRISPR-based gene drive to another malaria vector, Anopheles gambiae.

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