Genomes and synthetic biology for development of novel pest control technologies

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Oxitec is the world leader in application of synthetic biology to control of pest insects. Oxitec’s RIDL® technology relies on release of mass-reared genetically sterile (transgenic) male insects that mate with their wild pest counterparts, thereby causing a drop in population. RIDL efficacy is proven against the dengue mosquito, Ae. aegypti, reducing wild populations in Brazil by ca. 96%. A costly aspect of current technology is the means of selecting males only for release, important as the females blood-feed and transmit disease. This project aims to develop a novel method of producing male-only cohorts of RIDL mosquitoes (‘genetic sexing’) that would both markedly reduce costs and cement Oxitec’s leadership in the field. Next-generation sequencing datasets will be analysed to help develop new RIDL traits in Ae. aegypti mosquitoes, to increase the efficiency of applying our technology in the field. Development of targeted bioinformatics methodology, and successful engineering of a novel genetic sexing technique, will provide a pipeline for development of new RIDL traits in other pests important for public health and agriculture.