Conditional Expression of Cas9 and dCas9 in
Kriete A, Basika T, Novas R, Mathieson OL, Belikoff EJ
Crispr
Sheep blowflies destroy wool and kill sheep across Australia and beyond, driving up costs for farmers and threatening the wool and meat that reach your local shops.
Researchers used a gene-editing tool called CRISPR to create blowflies that can be made to switch sex when exposed to tetracycline, a common antibiotic. By controlling whether the antibiotic is present, scientists can decide whether the flies develop as male or female. This could be used to flood wild pest populations with one sex only, causing populations to crash without spraying chemicals.
Key Findings
CRISPR-based sex transformation was successfully triggered in the Australian sheep blowfly using tetracycline-repressible genetic switches
Both active Cas9 and catalytically inactive dCas9 constructs were tested, demonstrating flexible design options for genetic control systems
Conditional sex transformation offers a targeted, heritable mechanism to suppress pest populations as an alternative to broad-spectrum insecticides
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists engineered blowflies—a major livestock pest—to change sex based on a common antibiotic, potentially allowing pest populations to be collapsed without chemicals.
Abstract Preview
Conditional sex transformation systems could improve genetic control strategies against insect pests. Here, we developed and tested CRISPR-based, tetracycline-repressible sex transformation strains...
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