Transgenic Manipulation of Arthropod Vectors: Tools to Study and Prevent Vector-borne Disease Transmission

TOPICAL COLLECTIONS

Guest Editors

Adeline Williams

Colorado State University

Adeline Williams is a PhD student in Dr. Ken Olson’s lab in the Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology Department at Colorado State University. She is also working with Dr. Eric Calvo at NIAID/NIH in the Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research as part of a Graduate Program Partnership between CSU & NIH. Adeline earned a Bachelor of Science in Public Health and a Bachelor of Arts in English at Tulane University in 2015. She then received her Master of Public Health in Infectious Disease Epidemiology from the Yale School of Public Health in 2017. For her master’s thesis, she studied tsetse-trypanosome interactions. In 2017-2018, she worked as a post-baccalaureate fellow in Dr. Carolina Barillas-Mury’s lab at NIH/NIAID and aided in studies characterizing a transmission-blocking vaccine candidate against malaria. Her current PhD research aims to characterize transgenic lines of arbovirus-resistant Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.

Ken Olson

Colorado State University

Dr. Olson is a Professor of Virology in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology at Colorado State University and a member of the Arthropod-borne and Infectious Diseases Laboratory (AIDL). Dr. Olson is an internationally recognized leader in mosquito transgenics and innate anti-viral RNA interference (RNAi) pathways used by mosquitoes to modulate arbovirus infections. The Olson lab works with Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and the arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) they transmit such as dengue 1-4, Zika, and chikungunya viruses. A major research goal of the Olson laboratory has been to identify molecular strategies for interfering with the replication of arboviruses in mosquitoes. Using RNAi, his team was the first lab to develop genetically modified Ae. aegypti refractory to an arbovirus. His group generated mariner (Mos1)-transformed Ae. aegypti lines to express DENV2-specific dsRNA in the mosquito midgut. One transgenic line (Carb109M) remains refractory to DENV2 infection after 55 generations. His group is currently engineering Ae. aegypti to express anti-viral effector genes targeting Zika virus in the context of a CRISPR-Cas9 genetic drive system. The gene drive system is designed to generate super-Mendelian inheritance of the anti-viral gene initially in Ae. aegypti populations. Other important goals of the research are to identify components of the RNAi pathways in mosquitoes and fully characterize important arbovirus-mosquito defense interactions. Dr. Olson’s lab has conducted research associated with alphavirus-induced pathogenesis in mouse models and alphavirus-based gene expression in mosquitoes and mice. Current collaborations outside CSU are with Drs. Alexander Franz (Univ. Missouri/Columbia) and Malcolm Fraser (Univ. Notre Dame).

Collection Overview

Vector-borne diseases are re-emerging global health threats that account for nearly one-quarter of all infectious diseases. They particularly impact sub-tropical and tropical regions of the world where underserved populations are disproportionally affected. Therapeutic or vaccine options targeting these agents remain, on the whole, limited. Vector control strategies that reduce populations of competent vector species are the main methods to prevent disease transmission.

Studying the basic biological functions that mediate arthropod growth, reproduction, or behavior can provide a means to eliminate arthropod vectors. Additionally, understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying vector-pathogen interactions will be critical for preventing vector-borne diseases because these studies identify key pathways that can be used to block transmission. In this methods collection, we welcome submissions detailing current transgenic tools, strategies, or techniques that are being used to genetically modify arthropod vectors, which may be used to accomplish these goals.

Transgenic methods used to modify arthropod vectors described herein may include, but are not limited to, techniques involving in the use of mutagens, transposable elements, or site-specific recombination systems such as CRISPR/Cas9 to directly manipulate vector genomes as well as the genetic modification and transformation of arthropod endosymbionts that can be reintroduced into the vector. Overall, this issue aims to describe the breadth of transgenic strategies that are currently being used and adapted to unique arthropod vectors, with the intention of studying vector behavior or vector-pathogen interactions, which will ultimately help to reduce the burden of vector-borne disease.