(The explanations below are mostly generated by ChatGPT and now manually reviewing & editing. Please feel free to report any mistakes or suggestions.)

A

  • Aedes: A genus of mosquitoes including important disease vectors such as Aedes aegypti.
  • Anopheles: A genus of mosquitoes that transmit malaria, such as Anopheles gambiae.

C

  • Carrying capacity: The maximum population size an environment can sustain.
  • Cas9 (CRISPR-associated protein 9): An RNA-guided DNA endonuclease used in CRISPR systems to introduce site-specific cuts in the genome.
  • Chasing: A spatial dynamic in which drive-free or resistance-carrying individuals escape the suppression zone and recolonize cleared areas, preventing complete population elimination.
  • Confinement: The restriction of a gene drive to a defined spatial area. If a drive is confined, it has an invasion threshold that prevents the drive from spreading if migrated to untargeted regions.
  • CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats): A genome editing system that enables targeted DNA cleavage and repair.
  • Culex: A genus of mosquitoes including Culex quinquefasciatus, a vector of various viruses.

D

  • Daisy-chain drive: A self-exhausting gene drive system composed of multiple linked elements.
  • Density-dependent competition: Competition intensity increases with population density.
  • Deterministic model: A model where population outcomes are fully determined by parameters.
  • Discrete-generation model: A model assuming non-overlapping generations.
  • Drive conversion (Drive efficiency): The rate at which a drive allele converts its wild-type counterpart.
  • Drosophila melanogaster: A model organism widely used in genetics and drive research.

E

  • Effective population size ($N_e$): The size of an idealized population with equivalent genetic drift.
  • Embryo resistance formation (maternal deposition): Resistance generated by maternal Cas9 deposition.
  • End-joining repair (NHEJ): A DNA repair pathway that often produces mutations at cut sites.

F

  • Fecundity: The number of offspring produced per female.
  • Fertility: The ability to produce viable offspring.
  • Fitness: The relative reproductive success of a genotype.
  • Fraction-based model: A population model using allele frequencies rather than individuals.
  • Functional resistance (r1) allele: Resistance alleles that preserve gene function while blocking the drive.

G

  • Gene drive: A genetic system that biases inheritance to increase allele frequency in a population.
  • Genetic drift: Random changes in allele frequency due to sampling effects.
  • Genetic load: Reduction in population fitness due to deleterious alleles.
  • Germline resistance formation: Resistance occurring during germline end-joining repair.
  • gRNA (guide RNA): An RNA molecule that guides Cas9 to a specific DNA target sequence for cleavage.

H

  • Haploinsufficient (haplolethal): A gene where one functional copy is insufficient for viability.
  • Haplosufficient (recessive lethal): A gene where heterozygotes are viable but homozygotes are lethal.
  • Heterozygote advantage: Heterozygotes have higher fitness than homozygotes.
  • Homing drive: A CRISPR-based drive that cuts and copies itself via HDR.
  • Homology-directed repair (HDR): A high-fidelity repair mechanism using a homologous template.

I

  • Individual-based model: A model that tracks each organism and its genotype explicitly.
  • Invasion threshold: Minimum initial drive frequency required for spread.

L

  • Low-density growth rate: Population growth rate when density is close to zero, where density-dependent competition can be neglected.

M

  • Mendelian inheritance: Standard 50% allele transmission to offspring.
  • Meiosis: The process of cell division in sexually reproducing organisms that produces gametes (sperm or eggs) with half the chromosome number of the parent, allowing genetic recombination and inheritance.
  • Migration rate: The proportion of individuals moving between populations per generation.

N

  • Nonfunctional resistance (r2) allele: Resistance alleles that disrupt gene function.

O

  • Overlapping-generation model: A model where individuals of different ages coexist.

P

  • Panmictic model: A model assuming random mating across the entire population.
  • Population genetic control: The use of genetic strategies to alter, suppress, or regulate populations.
  • Population modification: Population genetic control strategies aiming to alter genetic traits of a population without necessarily reducing its size.
  • Population suppression: Population genetic control strategies intended to reduce population size, growth, or persistence, potentially leading to local elimination.
  • Promoter: DNA element controlling expression of a downstream gene.

R

  • Release of insects carrying dominant lethal alleles (RIDL): A genetic control strategy using sterile insects.
  • Rescue element: A gene component that restores viability to individuals carrying a drive.
  • Resistance allele: An allele preventing the homing drive from cutting or copying.

S

  • Self-sustaining drive: A drive that can persist and spread indefinitely once released.
  • Self-limiting drive: A drive designed to fade out after several generations.
  • Sexual selection: Differential mating success based on genotype or phenotype.
  • SLiM: A forward genetic simulation framework for population modeling.
  • Spatial model: A model incorporating spatial structure or movement.
  • Stochastic model: A model incorporating randomness in reproduction or migration.

T

  • Target site: DNA sequence recognized and cleaved by Cas9/gRNA.
  • Toxin-antidote drive: A system that targets and disrupts an essential gene while also providing rescue via a recoded version of the target, including designs such as TARE, TADE, TADS, etc.
  • Cleavage rate: Success rate of target DNA cleavage.

U

  • Underdominance drive: A drive where heterozygotes have lower fitness than homozygotes.

V

  • Vector-borne disease: Diseases transmitted by organisms such as mosquitoes.
  • Viability: The ability of individuals to survive to reproductive age.

W

  • Wolbachia: A maternally transmitted bacterium affecting host reproduction.
  • Wright–Fisher model: A panmictic discrete-generation genetic drift model with constant population size.

X

  • X-shredder: A system that destroys the X chromosome during sperm formation, biasing sex ratio.