Gene Drives Could Kill Mosquitoes And Suppress Herpesvirus Infections

Gene drive technology is powerful and slightly frightening. But the coronavirus pandemic reminds us that we want to have multiple weapons in the public health arsenal should we be confronted with another life-threatening microbe.
Now, a team of researchers writing in the journal Nature Communications has shown that a gene drive can be used to suppress infection with cytomegalovirus, a type of herpesvirus. The underlying molecular mechanism of the gene drive is similar to others before it: A self-propagating chunk of DNA inserts itself into a gene that is important to the virus. In this case, the gene is UL23, which is needed for cytomegalovirus to avoid the human immune response.

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