The potential for a CRISPR gene drive to eradicate or suppress globally invasive social wasps

CRISPR gene drives have potential for widespread and cost-efficient pest control, but are highly controversial. We examined a potential gene drive targeting spermatogenesis to control the invasive common wasp (Vespula vulgaris) in New Zealand. Vespula wasps are haplodiploid. Their life cycle makes gene drive production challenging, as nests are initiated by single fertilized queens in spring followed by several cohorts of sterile female workers and the production of reproductives in autumn. We show that different spermatogenesis genes have different levels of variation between introduced and native ranges, enabling a potential ‘precision drive’ that could target the reduced genetic diversity and genotypes within the invaded range. In vitro testing showed guide-RNA target specificity and efficacy that was dependent on the gene target within Vespula, but no cross-reactivity in other Hymenoptera. Mathematical modelling incorporating the genetic and life history traits of Vespula wasps identified characteristics for a male sterility drive to achieve population control. There was a trade-off between drive infiltration and impact: a drive causing complete male sterility would not spread, while partial sterility could be effective in limiting population size if the homing rate is high. Our results indicate that gene drives may offer viable suppression for wasps and other haplodiploid pests

Erratum: High-quality assemblies for three invasive social wasps from the vespula genus (G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics (2020) 10 (3479-3488) DOI: 10.1534/g3.120.401579)

In the originally published version of this manuscript, funding information and disclosures were omitted. The following information should have been included after the Acknowledgments section. Funding This project was supported by Genomics Aotearoa (to PKD) and the Biological Heritage National Science Challenge (to PJL) both funded by the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (Hı¯kina Whakatutuki), Government of New Zealand, as well as US National Science Foundation Grant #1655963 and UC Riverside Seed Grant to JP and EWR; Dovetail Genomics Matching Funds Grant to JP. Availability of data and materials Raw reads are hosted in the NCBI Sequence Read Archive under accession PRJNA643352. The version of the assemblies and annotations described in this paper is hosted on Zenodo under DOI 10.5281/zenodo.4001020. The genomes and annotations have also been uploaded to GenBank under accessions JACSDY000000000 (Vespula pensylvanica), JACSDZ000000000 (Vespula germanica) and JACSEA000000000 (Vespula vulgaris). The annotations used in this paper and the annotations hosted by GenBank differ because records were removed to pass NCBI validation. Authors' contributions PJL and PKD conceived and designed the project. All authors aided in obtaining and analysing the genomic data. PJL, PKD, TWRH, JG, EJR and EJD wrote the manuscript draft, and all authors participated in the revision of the final version. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Ethics approval and consent to participate Common wasps (V. vulgaris) were collected under the permit National Authorisation Number 38337-RES from the Department of Conservation in New Zealand. Samples of other wasps were collected from private land where no permit was required. No other ethical approval was required. Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests. The above information has now been updated in the online article