A male-biased sex-distorter gene drive for the human malaria vector Anopheles gambiae

Only female insects transmit diseases such as malaria; therefore, control methods that bias the sex ratio of insect offspring have long been sought. This paper reports a male-biased sex-distorter gene drive (SDGD) in the human malaria vector *Anopheles gambiae*, induced by coupling an X-chromosome-shredding I-Ppol nuclease to a CRISPR-based gene drive inserted into the *doublesex* (*dsx*) gene. Modeling predicted SDGD to have a quicker impact on female mosquito populations than previously developed gene drives. The SDGD at the *dsx* locus led to a male-only population from a 2.5% starting allelic frequency in 10–14 generations, with population collapse and no selection for resistance. The results support the use of SDGD for malaria vector control.

Alekos Simoni, Andrew M. Hammond, Andrea K. Beaghton, Roberto Galizi, Chrysanthi Taxiarchi, Kyros Kyrou, Dario Meacci, Matthew Gribble, Giulia Morselli, Austin Burt, Tony Nolan, Andrea Crisanti