Development of a pan-neuronal genetic driver in mosquitoes.

Publication Year
2021

Type

Journal Article
Abstract

The recent development of neurogenetic tools in mosquitoes is beginning to shed light on the neural basis of behaviors that make this species a major vector of human disease. However, we still lack a pan-neuronal expression driver-a key tool that provides genetic access to all neurons. Here, we describe our efforts to fill this gap via CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knock-in of reporters to broadly expressed neural genes and report on the generation of two strains, a : strain that expresses synaptically localized GCaMP and a driver strain that can be used to drive and amplify expression of any effector via the Q binary system. Both manipulations broadly and uniformly label the nervous system with only modest effects on behavior. We expect these strains to facilitate neurobiological research in mosquitoes and document both successful and failed manipulations as a roadmap for similar tool development in other non-model species.

Journal
Cell Rep Methods
Volume
1
Issue
3
Date Published
2021 Jul 26
ISSN Number
2667-2375
Alternate Journal
Cell Rep Methods
PMCID
PMC8478256
PMID
34590074