Fig. 4: Anti-CRISPR mosquitoes inhibit the spread of gene drive in large-sized cage after anti-drive release experiments.

Two age-structured wild-type populations were established in large-sized cages over a period of 70 days, then Ag(QFS)1 heterozygous males were released twice a week at 25% allelic frequency for three consecutive weeks (day 0 in the graphs). For the cage named ‘gene drive + anti-drive’, following the gene drive release, Ag(Vasa:A4)2 homozygous males were released twice a week, at 30% allelic frequency, until the end of the experiment. A, B Genotype frequencies of wild-type (dotted grey line), Ag(QFS)1 (dotted red line) and Ag(Vasa:A4)2 (dotted blue line) were monitored over time and compared to 50 stochastic simulations (light coloured lines). Black arrows indicate the point at which no further eggs were recovered and the population was considered eliminated. Dashed vertical lines indicate initial days of releases for the drive (red) and anti-drive (blue). C, D Total egg output (dotted black line) collected after each bi-weekly feeding compared to 50 stochastic simulations (grey lines). Fitness parameters are provided in Supplementary table 9.