Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41652229›Full record

ArticleThe EMBO journal2026

Assessing target genes for homing suppression gene drive.

Xuejiao Xu, Jialing Fang, Jingheng Chen, Jie Yang, Xiaozhen Yang, Shibo Hou, Weitang Sun, Jackson Champer

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The EMBO journal, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Modeling Control of Invasive Fire Ants by Gene Drive.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Xuejiao XuCenter for Bioinformatics, Center for Life Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China. xuejiao.xu@pku.edu.cn.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7543-5592
Jialing FangCenter for Bioinformatics, Center for Life Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
Jingheng ChenCenter for Bioinformatics, Center for Life Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
Jie YangCenter for Bioinformatics, Center for Life Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
Xiaozhen YangCenter for Bioinformatics, Center for Life Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
Shibo HouCenter for Bioinformatics, Center for Life Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0005-5908-6333
Weitang SunCenter for Bioinformatics, Center for Life Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
Jackson ChamperCenter for Bioinformatics, Center for Life Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China. jchamper@pku.edu.cn.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3814-3774

Funding

MOST | National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) 32270672MOST | National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) 32302455
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Gene drives are engineered alleles that bias their own inheritance in offspring, enabling the spread of specific traits throughout a population. Targeting female fertility genes in a gene drive can be an efficient strategy for population suppression. In this study, we investigated nine female fertility genes in Drosophila melanogaster using CRISPR-based homing gene drives. Employing a multiplexed gRNA approach to prevent the formation of functional resistance alleles, we aimed to maintain high drive-conversion efficiency with low fitness costs in female drive-carriers. Drive efficiency was assessed in individual crosses and had varied performance across different target genes. Notably, drives targeting the octopamine β2 receptor (oct) and stall (stl) genes exhibited the highest drive-conversion rates and were further tested in cages. A drive targeting stl successfully suppressed a cage population with a high release frequency, though suppression failed in another replicate cage with a lower initial release frequency. Fitness costs in female drive carriers were observed in test cages, impacting the overall efficiency of population suppression. Further tests on the fertility of these lines using individual crosses indicated that some fitness costs were due to maternal deposition of Cas9 combined with new gRNA expression, which would only occur in progeny of drive males when testing split drives with separate Cas9 (when mimicking cages with complete drives) but not for complete drive systems. This could enable success in complete drives with higher maternal Cas9 deposition, even if cage experiments in split drives fail. Overall, our findings identify oct and stl as promising fertility targets and demonstrate both the potential and the constraints of fertility-based suppression drives, providing empirical evidence to guide the design and assessment of more efficient population control strategies.

Indexed as

Drosophila melanogasterDrosophila ProteinsFertilityGene Drive TechnologyAnimalsCRISPR-Cas SystemsFemaleGenetic FitnessDrosophila ProteinsCRISPRFemale FertilityFitness CostsHoming Gene DrivePopulation Suppression

Identifiers

PMID41652229
PMCPMC12992549

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.