Aedes aegypti is a critical vector for transmitting Zika, dengue, chikungunya, and yellow fever viruses to humans. Genetic strategies to limit mosquito survival based upon sex distortion or disruption of development may be valuable new tools to control Ae. aegypti populations. We identified six genes with expression limited to pupal development; osi8 and osi11 (Osiris protein family), CPRs and CPF (cuticle protein family), and stretchin (a muscle protein). Heritable CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene knockout of these genes did not reveal any defects in pupal development. However, stretchin-null mutations (strn^Δ35/Δ41) resulted in flightless mosquitoes with an abnormal open wing posture. The inability of adult strn^Δ35/Δ41 mosquitoes to fly restricted their escape from aquatic rearing media following eclosion, and substantially reduced adult survival rates. Transgenic strains which contain the EGFP marker gene under the control of strn regulatory regions (0.8 kb, 1.4 kb, and 2.2 kb upstream, respectively), revealed the gene expression pattern of strn in muscle-like tissues in the thorax during late morphogenesis from L₄ larvae to young adults. We demonstrated that Ae. aegypti pupae-specific strn is critical for adult mosquito flight capability and a key late-acting lethal target for mosquito-borne disease control.

埃及伊蚊是将寨卡病毒、登革热、基孔肯雅热和黄热病病毒传播给人类的重要媒介。基于性别扭曲或发育中断来限制蚊子存活的遗传策略可能是控制Ae 的有价值的新工具。埃及人口。我们鉴定了六个基因，其表达仅限于蛹发育；osi8和osi11（Osiris 蛋白家族）、 CPR和CPF（角质层蛋白家族）以及拉伸蛋白（一种肌肉蛋白）。这些基因的可遗传 CRISPR/Cas9 介导的基因敲除并未揭示蛹发育中的任何缺陷。然而， stretchin -null 突变（ strn ^Δ35/Δ41）导致无法飞行的蚊子以异常的张开翅膀姿势。成年strn ^Δ35/Δ41蚊子无法飞行限制了它们在羽化后逃离水生饲养介质，并大大降低了成虫存活率。含有转基因的菌株EGFP的控制下，标记基因STRN调控区（0.8kb的，1.4kb的，和2.2kb的上游，分别地），揭示了的基因表达模式STRN从L-晚形态发生过程中肌样在胸部组织₄幼虫至青壮年。我们证明了Ae。埃及蛹特异性链 是成蚊飞行能力的关键，也是蚊媒疾病控制的关键晚期致死目标。