SBIR Phase I: Development of genetically modified sterile male mosquito for biocontrol

这一小型企业创新研究(SBIR)项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是开发安全有效、无毒的昆虫和其他入侵生物的生物防治。蚊子和其他昆虫每年给世界经济造成的损失超过100亿美元，因为它们对人类健康造成了影响，给农业带来了收入损失。现有的控制措施既不是有效的、环境友好的、可广泛应用的可扩展的，也不符合实施的成本效益。本项目旨在解决上述不足之处。其目标是开发有效的、对环境影响最小、实施成本效益高并因此具有商业化吸引力的昆虫控制方法。这个SBIR第一阶段项目建议开发一种用于控制埃及伊蚊的转基因不育雄性加速释放技术(SMART)。智能蚊子的创新开发解决了蚊子控制中的几个问题，包括：雄性和雌性的分选，成年雄性的运输，费力的释放过程，以及不可扩展的操作。这种聪明的方法要求鸡蛋可以在一个集中的设施中生产，在室温下储存直到需要，并在室温下用一个小容器运输，价格低廉。顾客只需要加入水和提供的营养物质来孵化鸡蛋，只有雄性才会出现，通过在每个生殖周期产生不育的雄性来扩大雄性不育性。该研究提案的范围仅限于通过针对生殖系雄性不育来在蚊子中制造人工遗传不亲和性。关键的技术目标是：1)优化蚊子可编程转录激活剂的成分；2)将人工合成的遗传不亲和性工程到Ae的种系中。埃及伊蚊。该项目的预期结果将是最先进的智能蚊子，能够有效地进行可扩展和经济的生物控制。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is the development of safe and effective, toxin-free biocontrol of insects and other invasive organisms. Mosquitoes and other insects cost upwards of $10 B/year to the world economy due to their impact on human health and revenue losses to agriculture. Current control measures available are neither effective, environmentally friendly, scalable for widespread application, nor cost effective to implement. This project aims to address the above deficiencies. The goal is to develop insect control methods that are effective, have minimal environmental impact and are cost effective to implement and hence attractive to commercialization. This SBIR Phase I project proposes to develop a genetically modified sterile male accelerated release technique (SMART) for Aedes aegypti mosquito control. The innovative development of SMART mosquitoes solves several issues in mosquito control, including: sorting of males and females, transportation of adult males, laborious release processes, and non-scalable operation. The SMART approach requires eggs that can be produced at a centralized facility, stored at room temperature until needed, and inexpensively shipped at room temperature in a small container. Customers need only add water with supplied nutrients to hatch the eggs, from which only males emerge that amplify male sterility by producing sterile males with each reproduction cycle. The scope of the research proposal is limited to creating synthetic genetic incompatibility in mosquitoes by targeting germline male sterility. The key technical objectives are to: 1) optimize components of programmable transcriptional activators in mosquitoes and 2) engineer synthetic genetic incompatibility into germline of Ae. aegypti. The anticipated outcome of this project will be state-of-the-art SMART mosquitos that are effective at biocontrol that is scalable and economical to implement.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.