Fig. 5: Estimated time of gene drive removal from a mosquito population in function of various anti-drive release scenarios.

Fifty stochastic simulations of the time required for the elimination of the gene drive from the population after the introduction of the anti-drive (at 30% frequency), as a function of restocking release size (i.e. population size) and gene drive frequency in the population, for both medium-sized (left hand panels) and large-sized (right hand panels) cages. We define gene drive elimination when the genotype frequency of the drive is maintained below the threshold of 1% (top panels) or 5% (bottom panels). The ‘anti-drive release threshold’ (different coloured dots) indicates the frequency of the gene drive in the population that triggers the release of the anti-drive in the model. Time (in days) is measured from the release of the anti-drive, and each dot identifies a simulation for each population size and frequency threshold pair. Data are plotted only for those simulations in which the gene drive frequency declined below the 1% or 5% threshold within the time limit.