Germline transformation of the West Nile virus and avian malaria vector Culex quinquefasciatus Say using the piggyBac transposon system. (2025)
Journal Article
Nevard, K., Kaur, R., & Harvey-Samuel, T. (2025). Germline transformation of the West Nile virus and avian malaria vector Culex quinquefasciatus Say using the piggyBac transposon system. Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 180(May 2025), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibmb.2025.104309

Culex quinquefasciatus Say is a mosquito which acts as a vector for numerous diseases including West Nile virus, lymphatic filariasis and avian malaria, over a broad geographical range. As the effectiveness of insecticidal mosquito control methods de... Read More about Germline transformation of the West Nile virus and avian malaria vector Culex quinquefasciatus Say using the piggyBac transposon system..

Transgenic expression of cif genes from Wolbachia strain wAlbB recapitulates cytoplasmic incompatibility in Aedes aegypti (2024)
Journal Article
McNamara, C. J., Ant, T. H., Harvey-Samuel, T., White-Cooper, H., Martinez, J., Alphey, L., & Sinkins, S. P. (in press). Transgenic expression of cif genes from Wolbachia strain wAlbB recapitulates cytoplasmic incompatibility in Aedes aegypti. Nature communications, 15(1), Article 869. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-45238-7

The endosymbiotic bacteria Wolbachia can invade insect populations by modifying host reproduction through cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), an effect that results in embryonic lethality when Wolbachia-carrying males mate with Wolbachia-free females.... Read More about Transgenic expression of cif genes from Wolbachia strain wAlbB recapitulates cytoplasmic incompatibility in Aedes aegypti.

A multiplexed, confinable CRISPR/Cas9 gene drive can propagate in caged Aedes aegypti populations (2024)
Journal Article
Anderson, M. A. E., Gonzalez, E., Edgington, M. P., Ang, J. X. D., Purusothaman, D.-K., Shackleford, L., Nevard, K., Verkuijl, S. A. N., Harvey-Samuel, T., Leftwich, P. T., Esvelt, K., & Alphey, L. (in press). A multiplexed, confinable CRISPR/Cas9 gene drive can propagate in caged Aedes aegypti populations. Nature communications, 15(1), Article 729. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-44956-2

Aedes aegypti is the main vector of several major pathogens including dengue, Zika and chikungunya viruses. Classical mosquito control strategies utilizing insecticides are threatened by rising resistance. This has stimulated interest in new genetic... Read More about A multiplexed, confinable CRISPR/Cas9 gene drive can propagate in caged Aedes aegypti populations.

CRISPR-based gene drives generate super-Mendelian inheritance in the disease vector Culex quinquefasciatus (2023)
Journal Article
Harvey-Samuel, T., Feng, X., Okamoto, E. M., Purusothaman, D.-K., Leftwich, P. T., Alphey, L., & Gantz, V. M. (in press). CRISPR-based gene drives generate super-Mendelian inheritance in the disease vector Culex quinquefasciatus. Nature communications, 14(1), Article 7561. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-41834-1

Culex mosquitoes pose a significant public health threat as vectors for a variety of diseases including West Nile virus and lymphatic filariasis, and transmit pathogens threatening livestock, companion animals, and endangered birds. Rampant insectici... Read More about CRISPR-based gene drives generate super-Mendelian inheritance in the disease vector Culex quinquefasciatus.

Closing the gap to effective gene drive in Aedes aegypti by exploiting germline regulatory elements (2023)
Journal Article
Anderson, M. A. E., Gonzalez, E., Ang, J. X. D., Shackleford, L., Nevard, K., Verkuijl, S. A. N., Edgington, M. P., Harvey-Samuel, T., & Alphey, L. (in press). Closing the gap to effective gene drive in Aedes aegypti by exploiting germline regulatory elements. Nature communications, 14(1), Article 338. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-36029-7

CRISPR/Cas9-based homing gene drives have emerged as a potential new approach to mosquito control. While attempts have been made to develop such systems in Aedes aegypti, none have been able to match the high drive efficiency observed in Anopheles sp... Read More about Closing the gap to effective gene drive in Aedes aegypti by exploiting germline regulatory elements.

Silencing RNAs expressed from W-linked PxyMasc “retrocopies” target that gene during female sex determination in Plutella xylostella (2022)
Journal Article
Harvey-Samuel, T., Xu, X., Anderson, M. A. E., Carabajal Paladino, L. Z., Purusothaman, D., Norman, V. C., Reitmayer, C. M., You, M., & Alphey, L. (2022). Silencing RNAs expressed from W-linked PxyMasc “retrocopies” target that gene during female sex determination in Plutella xylostella. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119(46), https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2206025119

The Lepidoptera are an insect order of cultural, economic, and environmental importance, representing ∼10% of all described living species. Yet, for all but one of these species (silkmoth, Bombyx mori), the molecular genetics of how sexual fate is de... Read More about Silencing RNAs expressed from W-linked PxyMasc “retrocopies” target that gene during female sex determination in Plutella xylostella.