Genetic transformation of arthropod vectors for control of vector borne diseases

Abstract

The vector borne diseases cause heavy loss to mankind and livestock industry throughout the world. Global climate changes reported to contribute to the recurrence and new epidemics of vector borne diseases. Unfortunately, the available strategies to control vector borne diseases are insufficient and public health burden of the major vector borne diseases is on increasing trend. Complete eradication of a vector population is not realistic and desirable for many arthropod vector species due to biological constraints. Genetic transformation of vectors offers the way to control the diseases transmitted by the arthropod vectors without killing them and is also an economically viable option. Genetic transformation of arthropod vectors is a new strategy in the genomic era in which the synthetic effector gene is introduced into the genome of vectors to block the developmental stages of parasite/pathogen inside the vector and subsequent driving of the effector gene into the wild vector population in a geographical area. However, the knowledge on the putative risk factors associated with the release of transgenic arthropod vectors in the field is lacking and considerable work is needed before the deployment of transgenic arthropod vectors in nature.