Imperial College London
Alternate

Professor George K. Christophides

Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Life Sciences

Professor of Infectious Diseases & Immunity
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 5342g.christophides

 
 
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Location

 

6165Sir Alexander Fleming BuildingSouth Kensington Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Tapanelli:2021:10.1101/2021.11.01.466738,
author = {Tapanelli, S and Inghilterra, MG and Cai, J and Philpott, J and Capriotti, P and Windbichler, N and Christophides, GK},
doi = {10.1101/2021.11.01.466738},
title = {Assessment of <i>Plasmodium falciparum</i> infection and fitness of genetically modified <i>Anopheles gambiae</i> aimed at mosquito population replacement},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2021.11.01.466738},
year = {2021}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - <jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes expressing anti-plasmodial effectors propagating through wild mosquito populations by means of gene drive is a promising tool to support current malaria control strategies. The process of generating GM mosquitoes involves genetic transformation of mosquitoes from a laboratory colony and, often, interbreeding with other GM lines to cross in auxiliary traits. These mosquito colonies and GM lines thus often have different genetic backgrounds and GM lines are invariably highly inbred, which in conjunction with their independent rearing in the laboratory may translate to differences in their susceptibility to malaria parasite infection and life history traits. Here, we show that laboratory <jats:italic>Anopheles gambiae</jats:italic> colonies and GM lines expressing Cas9 and Cre recombinase vary greatly in their susceptibility to <jats:italic>Plasmodium falciparum</jats:italic> NF54 infection. Therefore, the choice of mosquitoes to be used as a reference when conducting infection or life history trait assays requires careful consideration. To address these issues, we established an experimental pipeline involving genetic crosses and genotyping of mosquitoes reared in shared containers throughout their lifecycle. We used this protocol to examine whether GM lines expressing the antimicrobial peptide (AMP) Scorpine in the mosquito midgut interfere with parasite infection and mosquito survival. We demonstrate that Scorpine expression in the Peritrophin 1 (Aper1) genomic locus reduces both <jats:italic>P</jats:italic>. <jats:italic>falciparum</jats:italic> sporozoite prevalence and mosquito lifespan; both these phenotypes are likely to be associated with the disturbance of the midgut microbiota homeostasis. These data lead us to conclude that the Aper1-Sco GM line could be used in proof-of-concept experiments aimed at mosquito populat
AU  - Tapanelli,S
AU  - Inghilterra,MG
AU  - Cai,J
AU  - Philpott,J
AU  - Capriotti,P
AU  - Windbichler,N
AU  - Christophides,GK
DO  - 10.1101/2021.11.01.466738
PY  - 2021///
TI  - Assessment of <i>Plasmodium falciparum</i> infection and fitness of genetically modified <i>Anopheles gambiae</i> aimed at mosquito population replacement
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2021.11.01.466738
ER  -
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