Independent experimental validation of the properties of published transgenic constructs in insects

To minimise  the probability of  environmental harm  occurring upon release of novel transgenic insects into the environment it may in some circumstances be desirable to independently verify key properties of released insects.  We are currently working on validating  previously described properties and expanding the understanding of understudied aspects of constructs developed by other scientific groups.  

Development of a  proof principle system for underdominant population transformation.

The utilisation of genetic underdominance to control insect pest populations is not a new one and was first successfully applied in the 1940s to eliminate tsetse flies ( which spread sleeping sickness) from a 25Km2 area of Tanzania . 

I am currently developing a transgenic construct which we call {U}, that  also exploits underdominance to push novel genes into experimental populations..  This could one day be useful to push genes into wild populations to stop particular insects species spreading diseases.

The {U} construct has the following novel and desirable properties:

1    Geographically self-limiting; restricting itself to targeted populations of a specific                                                 species.

2    Reversible, population transformation is realistically reversible.

3    Species specific; Horizontal transfer to non-target species is highly unlikely.

This work is still at a very early stage and it will take years of multi-disciplinary work before it will be possible to determine if this approach is effective and safe.

This work is currently being exclusively done in a fruit fly model,

Relevant publications

Reed FA, Reeves RG, Aquadro CF (2005) Evidence of Susceptibility and Resistance to Cryptic X-Linked Meiotic Drive in Natural Populations of Drosophila melanogaster. Evolution 59: 1280–1291.

Heck JA, Argueso JL, Gemici Z, Reeves RG, Bernard A, et al. (2006) Negative epistasis between natural variants of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae MLH1 and PMS1 genes results in a defect in mismatch repair. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 103: 3256-61. doi:10.1073/pnas.0510998103

Altrock PM, Traulsen A, Reeves RG, Reed F a (2010) Using underdominance to bi-stably transform local populations. Journal of theoretical biology 267: 62-75. doi:10.1016/j.jtbi.2010.08.004