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Figure 1 | Genome Biology

Figure 1

From: Engineering the control of mosquito-borne infectious diseases

Figure 1

Methods for the genetic control of vector populations. (a) Population suppression can be achieved by releasing large numbers of males that render their wild female mates incapable of having viable progeny. This includes releasing either males that are sterile and produce no progeny at all (as in sterile insect technique (SIT)) [15] or males that pass on lethal transgenes to the next generation, producing progeny that die before they can transmit disease (as in the release of insects carrying dominant lethals, RIDL) [16]. For SIT strategies, multiple releases of a large excess (5x to 10x) of sterile males relative to the target population are normally carried out over large areas. (b) Population replacement occurs when traits carried by a small number of engineered mosquitoes replace traits that naturally exist in field populations [17]. The desired engineered trait - for instance, an anti-pathogen gene that renders mosquitoes refractory to disease transmission - is driven to fixation in the field population using a genetic drive (as described in Figure 2h).

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