The Antiviral Small-Interfering RNA Pathway Induces Zika Virus Resistance in Transgenic Aedes aegypti.

ABSTRACT: The resurgence of arbovirus outbreaks across the globe, including the recent Zika virus (ZIKV) epidemic in 2015-2016, emphasizes the need for innovative vector control methods. In this study, we investigated ZIKV susceptibility to transgenic Aedes aegypti engineered to target the virus by means of the antiviral small-interfering RNA (siRNA) pathway. The robustness of antiviral effector expression in transgenic mosquitoes is strongly influenced by the genomic insertion locus and transgene copy number; we therefore used CRISPR/Cas9 to re-target a previously characterized locus (Chr2:321382225) and engineered mosquitoes expressing an inverted repeat (IR) dsRNA against the NS3/4A region of the ZIKV genome. Small RNA analysis revealed that the IR effector triggered the mosquito's siRNA a

SUBMITTER: Williams AE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7692394 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature