Development and testing of a novel Killer-Rescue self-limiting gene drive system in Drosophila melanogaster

Here we report the development and testing of a novel self-limiting gene
drive system, Killer-Rescue, in Drosophila melanogaster. This system is
composed of an auto-regulated Gal4 Killer (K) and a Gal4-activated Gal80
Rescue (R). Overexpression of Gal4 is lethal, but in the presence of R
activation of Gal80 leads to much lower levels of Gal4 and rescue of
lethality. We demonstrate that with a single 2:1 engineered to wildtype
release, K drives R through the population and after nine generations more
than 98% of the population carry R and less than 2% of the population are
wildtype flies. We discuss how this simple Killer-Rescue gene drive system
may be readily adapted for population replacement in a human health pest,
Aedes aegypti, or for population suppression in an agricultural pest,
Drosophila suzukii