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Link to bioRxiv paper:
http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2020.08.07.240226v1?rss=1
Authors: Meccariello, A., Krsticevic, F., Colonna, R., Del Corsano, G., Fasulo, B., Papathanos, P. A., Windbichler, N.
Abstract:
Genetic sex ratio distorters have potential for the area-wide control of harmful insect populations. Endonucleases targeting the X-chromosome and whose activity is restricted to male gametogenesis have recently been pioneered as a means to engineer such traits. Here we enabled endogenous CRISPR/Cas9 and CRISPR/Cas12a activity during spermatogenesis of the Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata, a worldwide agricultural pest of extensive economic significance. In the absence of a chromosome-level assembly, we analysed long and short-read genome sequencing data from males and females to identify two clusters of abundant and X-chromosome specific sequence repeats. When targeted by gRNAs in conjunction with Cas9 they yielded a significant and consistent distortion of the sex ratio in independent transgenic strains and a combination of distorters induced a strong bias towards males (~80%). Our results demonstrate the design of sex distorters in a non-model organism and suggest that strains with characteristics suitable for field application could be developed for a range of medically or agriculturally relevant insect species.
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Link to bioRxiv paper:
http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2020.08.12.248997v1?rss=1
Authors: Shapiro, A., Rosenberg, A., Levy-Zamir, A., Bassali, L., Ittah, S., Abu-Horowitz, A., Bachelet, I.
Abstract:
We report the synthesis of a molecular machine, fabricated from nucleic acids, which is...
Published 08/14/20
Link to bioRxiv paper:
http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2020.08.12.247957v1?rss=1
Authors: Rajkumar, A. S., Morrissey, J. P.
Abstract:
The yeast Kluyveromyces marxianus offers unique potential for industrial biotechnology because of useful features like rapid growth, thermotolerance and a...
Published 08/12/20
Link to bioRxiv paper:
http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2020.08.11.246561v1?rss=1
Authors: Huang, H.-H., Bellato, M., Qian, Y., Cardenas, P., Pasotti, L., Magni, P., Del Vecchio, D.
Abstract:
CRISPRi-mediated gene repression allows simultaneous control of many genes. However, despite...
Published 08/11/20