Imperial College London

DrAngelaMeccariello

Faculty of Natural SciencesDepartment of Life Sciences

Imperial College Research Fellow
 
 
 
//

Contact

 

a.meccariello

 
 
//

Location

 

Sir Alexander Fleming BuildingSouth Kensington Campus

//

Summary

 

Publications

Publication Type
Year
to

16 results found

Meccariello A, Hou S, Davydova S, Fawcett JD, Siddall A, Leftwich PT, Krsticevic F, Papathanos PA, Windbichler Net al., 2024, Gene drive and genetic sex conversion in the global agricultural pest Ceratitis capitata, Nature Communications, Vol: 15, ISSN: 2041-1723

Homing-based gene drives are recently proposed interventions promising the area-wide, species-specific genetic control of harmful insect populations. Here we characterise a first set of gene drives in a tephritid agricultural pest species, the Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata (medfly). Our results show that the medfly is highly amenable to homing-based gene drive strategies. By targeting the medfly transformer gene, we also demonstrate how CRISPR-Cas9 gene drive can be coupled to sex conversion, whereby genetic females are transformed into fertile and harmless XX males. Given this unique malleability of sex determination, we modelled gene drive interventions that couple sex conversion and female sterility and found that such approaches could be effective and tolerant of resistant allele selection in the target population. Our results open the door for developing gene drive strains for the population suppression of the medfly and related tephritid pests by co-targeting female reproduction and shifting the reproductive sex ratio towards males. They demonstrate the untapped potential for gene drives to tackle agricultural pests in an environmentally friendly and economical way.

Journal article

Meccariello A, 2024, Gene drive and genetic sex conversion in theglobal agricultural pest Ceratitis capitata, Nature Communications, ISSN: 2041-1723

Journal article

Davydova S, Liu J, Kandul NP, Braswell WE, Akbari OS, Meccariello Aet al., 2023, Next-generation genetic sexing strain establishment in the agricultural pest Ceratitis capitata., Sci Rep, Vol: 13

Tephritid fruit fly pests pose an increasing threat to the agricultural industry due to their global dispersion and a highly invasive nature. Here we showcase the feasibility of an early-detection SEPARATOR sex sorting approach through using the non-model Tephritid pest, Ceratitis capitata. This system relies on female-only fluorescent marker expression, accomplished through the use of a sex-specific intron of the highly-conserved transformer gene from C. capitata and Anastrepha ludens. The herein characterized strains have 100% desired phenotype outcomes, allowing accurate male-female separation during early development. Overall, we describe an antibiotic and temperature-independent sex-sorting system in C. capitata, which, moving forward, may be implemented in other non-model Tephritid pest species. This strategy can facilitate the establishment of genetic sexing systems with endogenous elements exclusively, which, on a wider scale, can improve pest population control strategies like sterile insect technique.

Journal article

Meccariello A, Krsticevic F, Colonna R, Del Corsano G, Fasulo B, Papathanos PA, Windbichler Net al., 2021, Engineered sex ratio distortion by X-shredding in the global agricultural pest <i>Ceratitis capitata</i>, BMC BIOLOGY, Vol: 19

Journal article

Primo P, Meccariello A, Inghilterra MG, Gravina A, Del Corsano G, Volpe G, Sollazzo G, Aceto S, Robinson MD, Salvemini M, Saccone Get al., 2020, Targeting the autosomal <i>Ceratitis capitata transformer</i> gene using Cas9 or dCas9 to masculinize XX individuals without inducing mutations, BMC GENETICS, Vol: 21, ISSN: 1471-2156

Journal article

Meccariello A, Krsticevic F, Colonna R, Del Corsano G, Fasulo B, Papathanos PA, Windbichler Net al., 2020, Engineered sex distortion in the global agricultural pest<i>Ceratitis capitata</i>

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Genetic sex ratio distorters have potential for the area-wide control of harmful insect populations. Endonucleases targeting the X-chromosome and whose activity is restricted to male gametogenesis have recently been pioneered as a means to engineer such traits. Here we enabled endogenous CRISPR/Cas9 and CRISPR/Cas12a activity during spermatogenesis of the Mediterranean fruit fly<jats:italic>Ceratitis capitata</jats:italic>, a worldwide agricultural pest of extensive economic significance. In the absence of a chromosome-level assembly, we analysed long and short-read genome sequencing data from males and females to identify two clusters of abundant and X-chromosome specific sequence repeats. When targeted by gRNAs in conjunction with Cas9 they yielded a significant and consistent distortion of the sex ratio in independent transgenic strains and a combination of distorters induced a strong bias towards males (~80%). Our results demonstrate the design of sex distorters in a non-model organism and suggest that strains with characteristics suitable for field application could be developed for a range of medically or agriculturally relevant insect species.</jats:p>

Journal article

Meccariello A, Tsoumani KT, Gravina A, Primo P, Buonanno M, Mathiopoulos KD, Saccone Get al., 2020, Targeted somatic mutagenesis through CRISPR/Cas9 ribonucleoprotein complexes in the olive fruit fly, <i>Bactrocera oleae</i>, ARCHIVES OF INSECT BIOCHEMISTRY AND PHYSIOLOGY, Vol: 104, ISSN: 0739-4462

Journal article

Tsoumani KT, Meccariello A, Mathiopoulos KD, Papathanos PAet al., 2020, Developing CRISPR-based sex-ratio distorters for the genetic control of fruit fly pests: A how to manual, ARCHIVES OF INSECT BIOCHEMISTRY AND PHYSIOLOGY, Vol: 103, ISSN: 0739-4462

Journal article

Fasulo B, Meccariello A, Morgan M, Borufka C, Papathanos PA, Windbichler Net al., 2020, A fly model establishes distinct mechanisms for synthetic CRISPR/Cas9 sex distorters, PLOS GENETICS, Vol: 16, ISSN: 1553-7404

Journal article

Meccariello A, Salvemini M, Primo P, Hall B, Koskiniot P, Dalikova M, Gravina A, Gucciar MA, Forlenza F, Gregoriou ME, Ippolito D, Monti SM, Petrella V, Perrotta MM, Schmeing S, Ruggiero A, Scolari F, Giordano E, Tsoumani KT, Marec F, Windbichler N, Nagaraju J, Arunkumar KP, Bourtzis K, Mathiopoulos KD, Ragoussis J, Vitagliano L, Tu Z, Papathanos PA, Robinson MD, Saccone Get al., 2019, Maleness-on-the-Y (MoY) orchestrates male sex determination in major agricultural fruit fly pests, Sciecnce, Vol: 365, Pages: 1457-1460, ISSN: 0036-8075

In insects, rapidly evolving primary sex-determining signals are transduced by a conserved regulatory module controlling sexual differentiation. In the agricultural pest Ceratitis capitata (Mediterranean fruit fly, or Medfly), we identified a Y-linked gene, Maleness-on-the-Y (MoY), encoding a small protein that is necessary and sufficient for male development. Silencing or disruption of MoY in XY embryos causes feminization, whereas overexpression of MoY in XX embryos induces masculinization. Crosses between transformed XY females and XX males give rise to males and females, indicating that a Y chromosome can be transmitted by XY females. MoY is Y-linked and functionally conserved in other species of the Tephritidae family, highlighting its potential to serve as a tool for developing more effective control strategies against these major agricultural insect pests.

Journal article

Chiarore A, Bertocci I, Fioretti S, Meccariello A, Saccone G, Crocetta F, Patti FPet al., 2019, Syntopic <i>Cystoseira</i> taxa support different molluscan assemblages in the Gulf of Naples (southern Tyrrhenian Sea), MARINE AND FRESHWATER RESEARCH, Vol: 70, Pages: 1561-1575, ISSN: 1323-1650

Journal article

Monti SM, Meccariello A, Ceruso M, Szafranski K, Slawinski J, Supuran CTet al., 2017, Inhibition studies of <i>Brucella suis</i> β-carbonic anhydrases with a series of 4-substituted pyridine-3-sulphonamides, JOURNAL OF ENZYME INHIBITION AND MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY, Vol: 33, Pages: 255-+, ISSN: 1475-6366

Journal article

Meccariello A, Monti SM, Romanelli A, Colonna R, Primo P, Inghilterra MG, Del Corsano G, Ramaglia A, Iazzetti G, Chiarore A, Patti F, Heinze SD, Salvemini M, Lindsay H, Chiavacci E, Burger A, Robinson MD, Mosimann C, Bopp D, Saccone Get al., 2017, Highly efficient DNA-free gene disruption in the agricultural pest <i>Ceratitis capitata</i> by CRISPR-Cas9 ribonucleoprotein complexes, SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, Vol: 7, ISSN: 2045-2322

Journal article

Heinze SD, Kohlbrenner T, Ippolito D, Meccariello A, Burger A, Mosimann C, Saccone G, Bopp Det al., 2017, CRISPR-Cas9 targeted disruption of the <i>yellow</i> ortholog in the housefly identifies the <i>brown body</i> locus, SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, Vol: 7, ISSN: 2045-2322

Journal article

Papanicolaou A, Schetelig MF, Arensburger P, Atkinson PW, Benoit JB, Bourtzis K, Castanera P, Cavanaugh JP, Chao H, Childers C, Curril I, Dinh H, Doddapaneni H, Dolan A, Dugan S, Friedrich M, Gasperi G, Geib S, Georgakilas G, Gibbs RA, Giers SD, Gomulski LM, Gonzalez-Guzman M, Guillem-Amat A, Han Y, Hatzigeorgiou AG, Hernandez-Crespo P, Hughes DST, Jones JW, Karagkouni D, Koskinioti P, Lee SL, Malacrida AR, Manni M, Mathiopoulos K, Meccariello A, Munoz-Torres M, Murali SC, Murphy TD, Muzny DM, Oberhofer G, Ortego F, Paraskevopoulou MD, Poelchau M, Qu J, Reczko M, Robertson HM, Rosendale AJ, Rosselot AE, Saccone G, Salvemini M, Savini G, Schreiner P, Scolari F, Siciliano P, Sim SB, Tsiamis G, Urena E, Vlachos IS, Werren JH, Wimmer EA, Worley KC, Zacharopoulou A, Richards S, Handler AMet al., 2017, Erratum to: The whole genome sequence of the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), reveals insights into the biology and adaptive evolution of a highly invasive pest species, Genome Biology, Vol: 18, ISSN: 1474-7596

Journal article

Papanicolaou A, Schetelig MF, Arensburger P, Atkinson PW, Benoit JB, Bourtzis K, Castanera P, Cavanaugh JP, Chao H, Childers C, Curril I, Huyen D, Doddapaneni H, Dolan A, Dugan S, Friedrich M, Gasperi G, Geib S, Georgakilas G, Gibbs RA, Giers SD, Gomulski LM, Gonzalez-Guzman M, Guillem-Amat A, Han Y, Hatzigeorgiou AG, Hernandez-Crespo P, Hughes DST, Jones JW, Karagkouni D, Koskinioti P, Lee SL, Malacrida AR, Manni M, Mathiopoulos K, Meccariello A, Murali SC, Murphy TD, Muzny DM, Oberhofer G, Ortego F, Paraskevopoulou MD, Poelchau M, Qu J, Reczko M, Robertson HM, Rosendale AJ, Rosselot AE, Saccone G, Salvemini M, Savini G, Schreiner P, Scolari F, Siciliano P, Sim SB, Tsiamis G, Urena E, Vlachos IS, Werren JH, Wimmer EA, Worley KC, Zacharopoulou A, Richards S, Handler AMet al., 2016, The whole genome sequence of the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), reveals insights into the biology and adaptive evolution of a highly invasive pest species, Genome Biology, Vol: 17, ISSN: 1474-7596

BackgroundThe Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly), Ceratitis capitata, is a major destructive insect pest due to its broad host range, which includes hundreds of fruits and vegetables. It exhibits a unique ability to invade and adapt to ecological niches throughout tropical and subtropical regions of the world, though medfly infestations have been prevented and controlled by the sterile insect technique (SIT) as part of integrated pest management programs (IPMs). The genetic analysis and manipulation of medfly has been subject to intensive study in an effort to improve SIT efficacy and other aspects of IPM control.ResultsThe 479 Mb medfly genome is sequenced from adult flies from lines inbred for 20 generations. A high-quality assembly is achieved having a contig N50 of 45.7 kb and scaffold N50 of 4.06 Mb. In-depth curation of more than 1800 messenger RNAs shows specific gene expansions that can be related to invasiveness and host adaptation, including gene families for chemoreception, toxin and insecticide metabolism, cuticle proteins, opsins, and aquaporins. We identify genes relevant to IPM control, including those required to improve SIT.ConclusionsThe medfly genome sequence provides critical insights into the biology of one of the most serious and widespread agricultural pests. This knowledge should significantly advance the means of controlling the size and invasive potential of medfly populations. Its close relationship to Drosophila, and other insect species important to agriculture and human health, will further comparative functional and structural studies of insect genomes that should broaden our understanding of gene family evolution.

Journal article

This data is extracted from the Web of Science and reproduced under a licence from Thomson Reuters. You may not copy or re-distribute this data in whole or in part without the written consent of the Science business of Thomson Reuters.

Request URL: http://wlsprd.imperial.ac.uk:80/respub/WEB-INF/jsp/search-html.jsp Request URI: /respub/WEB-INF/jsp/search-html.jsp Query String: respub-action=search.html&id=00974059&limit=30&person=true