Comparative fitness assessment of Anopheles stephensi transgenic lines receptive to site-specific integration.

Genetically modified mosquitoes that are unable to transmit pathogens offer opportunities for controlling vector-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue. Site-specific gene recombination technologies are advantageous in the development of these insects because antipathogen effector genes can be inserted at integration sites in the genome that cause the least alteration in mosquito fitness. Here we describe Anopheles stephensi transgenic lines containing phi C31 attP'docking' sites linked to a fluorescent marker gene. Chromosomal insertion sites were determined and life-table parameters were assessed for transgenic mosquitoes of each line. No significant differences in fitness between the transgenic and nontransgenic mosquitoes were detected in this study. These transgenic lines are suitable for future site-specific integrations of antiparasite transgenes into the attP sites.