HOBO-LIKE ELEMENTS IN INSECTS

昆虫媒介传播的疾病仍然是世界范围内死亡的一个主要来源。不断开发研究和防治这些疾病以及传播这些疾病的昆虫的新工具是至关重要的。这项研究计划的长期目标是开发对人类具有医学意义的昆虫的基因工程工具，并利用这些新工具更好地了解昆虫/病原体和寄生虫相互作用的基本生物学。这些新工具还将被用来开发基于遗传学的新方法，以干扰昆虫媒介传播的疾病。这项提议有两个主要组成部分--继续开发Hermes基因载体系统，以提高其效率和宿主范围，以及开发基因工具来调查库蚊。其具体目的是1)了解HerMesin蚊子使用的整合模式以及这些模式是如何调控的；2)确定HAT元件在昆虫中相互作用的机制、范围和后果；3)通过蛋白质修饰和工程提高Hermes转座酶的重组活性；4)开发针对库蚊的基因载体和增强剂诱捕工具。5)建立了基于按蚊HAT元件的功能性基因载体系统。这些目标将使用遗传和分子遗传学方法来实现。

Insect vector-born diseases continue to be a major source of mortality worldwide. The continuous development of new tools to study and combat these diseases and the insects that transmit them is essential. The long term goals of this research program are to develop genetic engineering tools for insects of medical significance to man and to use these new tools to gain a better understanding of the basic biology of insect/pathogen and parasite interactions. These new tools will also be used to develop new genetics-based methods for interfering with insect vector-born disease transmission. This proposal has two principal components - continued development of the Hermes gene vector system to improve its efficiency and host range, and the development of genetic tools to investigate Culex mosquitoes. The specific aims are to 1) understand the modes of integration used by Hermesin mosquito and how these modes are regulated 2) determine the mechanisms, range and consequences of hAT element interactions in insects, 3) increase the recombination activity of Hermes transposase through protein modification and engineering, 4) develop gene vector and enhancer-trapping tools for Culex mosquitoes. 5) develop a functional anopheline hAT element-based gene vector system. These aims will be accomplished using genetic and molecular genetic methods.