Gene drive researchers associated with Target Malaria and funded by US DARPA, the GATES Foundation and the UK BBSRC have just managed to crash a population of caged mosquitoes after 7-11 generations.(1); ; This is a first, and it has brought this technology beyond the proof of principle. However, in their effort to avoid any resistance to the gene drive, they have focused on a highly stable, ‘conserved’ and vital gene that is found in many species, especially closely related mosquito species. This could enable the gene drive to eliminate populations of multiple non-target species, with very serious implications indeed for biodiversity and ecosystems.; ; We begin by explaining something about gene drives before focusing on what is different about this latest research just published by Kyrou et al. 2018 in Nature Biotechnology.
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