{"doi":"10.1101/2021.02.10.430702","title":"Optimized CRISPR tools and site-directed transgenesis in <i>Culex quinquefasciatus</i> mosquitoes for gene drive development","abstract":"ABSTRACT Culex mosquitoes are a global vector for multiple human and animal diseases, including West Nile virus, lymphatic filariasis, and avian malaria, posing a constant threat to public health, livestock, companion animals, and endangered birds. While rising insecticide resistance has threatened the control of Culex mosquitoes, advances in CRISPR genome-editing tools have fostered the development of alternative genetic strategies such as gene drive systems to fight disease vectors. However, though gene-drive technology has quickly progressed in other mosquitoes, advances have been lacking in Culex . Here, we developed a Culex- specific Cas9/gRNA expression toolkit and used site-directed homology-based transgenesis to generate and validate a Culex quinquefasciatus Cas9-expressing line. We showed that gRNA scaffold variants improve transgenesis efficiency in both Culex and Drosophila and boost gene-drive performance in the fruit fly. These findings support future technology development to control Culex mosquitoes and provide valuable insight for improving these tools in other species.","journal":"bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)","year":2021,"id":218351,"datarank":0.16479184330021646,"base_score":1.0986122886681096,"endowment":1.0986122886681096,"self_citation_contribution":0.16479184330021646,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.16479184330021646,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":2,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9464,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2021-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":285654,"name":"Víctor López Del Amo","orcid":"0000-0002-5567-3072","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":526793,"name":"Enzo Mameli","orcid":"0000-0002-0172-8090","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":657297,"name":"Megan Lee","orcid":"0000-0003-3734-6606","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":285655,"name":"Alena L. Bishop","orcid":"0000-0001-7189-015X","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":14957,"name":"Norbert Perrimon","orcid":"0000-0001-7542-472X","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":245841,"name":"Valentino M. Gantz","orcid":"0000-0003-2453-0711","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":565659,"name":"Xuechun Feng","orcid":"0000-0002-9534-0395","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":52,"raw_metadata":{"citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:53:29.626149Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}