Gene Drive in the News
A curated collection of articles from the popular press
Oxitec mosquito release expands
18082T. Java, Keynews.com, 2021-08-11 17:17:55.
Beginning this week, less than 200,000 genetically modified Aedes aegypti male mosquitoes will emerge from Oxitec’s designer bo…
Oxitec eyes California for its next GM mosquito pilot projec
18075J. Conrow, 2021-08-11 17:09:34.
Buoyed by its success in the Florida Keys, Oxitec Ltd. is now looking to California to test its program for controlling mosquito pests through genetic engineering, rather than insecticides. The field research is intended to show that genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes are a viable alternative to spraying insecticides in a bid to control a disease-carrying species of mosquito. Due to climate change, the invasive Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are spreading into new regions throughout the Western United States, including more than 300 cities and towns across California. Aedes aegypti transmit dengue, Zika, heartworm and other diseases, many of which have no treatments or vaccines.
Oxitec Advances Process to Bring Friendly™ Mosquito Technology to California to Help Government Agencies Protect Public Health
18046Oxitec, Oxitec, 2021-08-09 15:11:08.
Following successful launch of its Friendly™ Aedes aegypti pilot program in the Florida Keys, Oxitec, the leading developer of biological solutions to control pests that transmit disease, destroy crops and harm livestock, has requested approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to pilot its technology in California in partnership with local government agencies that have demonstrated interest in evaluating the technology.
Scientists eradicate malaria-transmitting mosquitos using genetic engineering which make females infertile in new study which takes one step closer to wiping out the disease worldwide.
18078C. Ciaccia, Daily Mail, 2021-07-30 17:09:51.
Malaria kills nearly 500,000 people globally every year, but scientists have now figured out a way to use CRISPR gene-editing technology to make female mosquitoes infertile, described as a 'game-changer' for ending the deadly disease. Researchers from Imperial College London, Genomics Genetics and Biology, and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine were able to use a gene drive for the first time to not only show that blocking female reproduction worked in a lab setting, but natural-like setting as well. The researchers targeted the mosquito species Anopheles gambiae, which is responsible for the majority of malaria transmissions in sub-Saharan Africa. The gene-drives targets the gene known as 'doublesex' in these mosquitoes.
Breakthrough in non-GMO malaria control
17914C. Robinson and J. Matthews, GM Watch, 2021-07-29 15:27:47.
A just-published study carried out in a high-security lab claims to show that a CRISPR gene drive (a way of forcing a heritable genetic modification through a whole species or population) can crash populations of malaria-spreading mosquitoes. But why crash mosquito populations with a risky experimental technology if you can completely stop them spreading malaria naturally? A naturally occurring biocontrol agent – a microbe – that inhibits the development of the malaria parasite in the mosquito Anopheles arabiensis, which spreads malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa, has recently been reported in the journal Nature Communications. Among the notable features of this approach are: • The microbe doesn’t seem to harm the mosquitoes in any way • Because it doesn’t kill the mosquitoes or cut their numbers, it should not have an impact on ecosystems dependent on them for food • The microbe seems to give the mosquitoes lifelong protection from malaria infection. The researchers are based at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), Kenya, and in the UK. The microbe featured in their recent publication is a microsporidian. Microsporidia are unicellular spore-forming parasites that are now recognised as fungi, or as being related to fungi. All major animal groups harbour them, particularly insects. They spread horizontally, via spores that are ingested by a new host, but many also undergo vertical transmission to the next generation, via infected eggs (known as transovarial transmission).
Genetic engineering may rid world of malaria-transmitting mosquitoes
18163Y. Steinbuch, New York Post, 2021-07-29 14:35:51.
Scientists have eradicated a population of malaria-transmitting mosquitoes by using genetic engineering to make the females infertile — in what the lead researcher called a possible “game-changer in bringing about malaria elimination.” A team of researchers — led by scientists at Imperial College London, Italy’s Polo Genomics Genetics and Biology, and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine — used the “gene drive” technology for the study, which was published in Nature Communications. “Gene drive is a self-sustaining and fast-acting technology that can work alongside existing tools such as bed nets, insecticides and vaccines — and could be a game-changer in bringing about malaria elimination,” Andrew Hammond, a molecular biologist at Imperial College London, told the Guardian. Using the technology, scientists may circumvent natural selection by providing genetic instructions that will spread through a mosquito population and pass on a particular trait — in this case, infertility — much faster than could be attained through regular selective breeding, the outlet said.
Gene-Drive Technology Could Decimate Malaria-Carrying Mosquitoes–Scientists Use CRISPR to Modify the Insects’ Genes
17925J. Henry, Tech Times, 2021-07-28 17:53:43.
Gene-drive technology can now suppress the growing numbers of mosquitoes that carry malaria. A group of researchers discovered that this gene-editing technique can eradicate the vectors that could rapidly populate in a particular environment. A mosquito (Anopheles albimanus) is prepared to be studied in a laboratory at the Center for Scientific Research Caucaseco in the outskirts of Cali, Colombia, on April 25, 2012, during the World Day for the fight against malaria. After Colombian physician Manuel Elkin Patarroyo developed a vaccine against malaria in 1986, Colombian scientists keep researching for another immunization for the illness, which in 2010 caused over 855.000 deaths all over the world. A team of 40 scientists is preparing to begin the second phase of chemical tests for a synthetic vaccine against malaria. Malaria is caused by the Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falcitarum parasites, and is transmitted by mosquitoes. In a study entitled "Gene-drive suppression of mosquito populations in large cages as a bridge between lab and field" published on Wednesday, July 28 on Nature.com, scientists used genetic engineering to create a special class of mosquitoes that would exterminate those that carry malaria.According to the researchers, their main aim is to develop a weapon that would lessen or wipe out the malaria-spreading mosquitoes. Most importantly, they applied the DNA sequence called "gene drive" to the male mosquitoes. Ruth Muller, one of the researchers who is an entomologist at PoloGGB, said that what they did was a "big breakthrough" in science. Somehow, the scientists are also thinking of freeing the genetically modified mosquitoes someday, but it would take some time to ensure that it is applicable.
Malaria-carrying mosquitoes could be bred out of existence using ‘gene drive’ technology
17923A. Wilkins, METRO, 2021-07-28 17:49:56.
Malaria-carrying mosquitoes have been eliminated using ‘gene drive’ technology in a nature-like environment, in a world-first study. By altering a gene that blocks female mosquito reproduction, and allowing that gene to spread, researchers found they could ensure complete mosquito population collapse within one year of the experiment’s start. It’s the first time so-called ‘gene drive’ technology has been shown to be effective in challenging ecological conditions over a long time scale. The results of the study, published in Nature Communications today, could be a key tool in battling the hundreds of millions of cases of malaria infections that happen each year. ‘The challenges facing malaria elimination have intensified in recent years, due in part to the spread of insecticide resistance and large gaps in funding for parts of sub-Saharan Africa,’ said co-lead author of the study Dr. Drew Hammond. ‘Sadly, researchers estimate that Covid-19 related disruptions may have doubled mortality from malaria in 2020, threatening a setback of several decades. ‘Gene drive is a self-sustaining and fast acting technology that can work alongside existing tools such as bed nets, insecticides and vaccines – and could be a game-changer in bringing about malaria elimination.’
Scientists reveal controversial genetically modified mosquitoes in high-security lab
17920The Frontier Post, The Frontier Post, 2021-07-28 17:44:04.
Many years of additional research will be needed to prove the approach works and the mosquitoes would be safe to release into the wild. The project would also require regulatory approval and agreement by local residents in areas where those mosquitoes live, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia. Despite years of efforts, malaria remains a major health problem. The mosquito-borne parasitic disease sickens more than 200 million people every year and kills more than 400,000, many of whom are children. So Muller and her colleagues decided to use CRISPR, a technique that enables scientists to easily make very precise changes in DNA to genetically modify the Anopheles gambiae species of mosquito, which spreads malaria in sub-Saharan Africa. The modification consisted of a mutation in a gene known as “doublesex,” which female mosquitoes need for normal development. The mutation deforms their mouths, making them unable to bite and spread the parasite. It also deforms their reproductive organs, rendering them unable to lay eggs. The mutation is combined with a gene drive, “effectively a selfish type of genetic element that spreads itself in the mosquito population,” says Tony Nolan of the Liverpool School of Tropical
Genetic engineering test with mosquitoes ‘may be game changer’ in eliminating malaria
17918L. Geddes, The Guardian, 2021-07-28 17:38:58.
Scientists have successfully wiped out a population of malaria-transmitting mosquitoes by using a radical form of genetic engineering to render the females infertile – in the most advanced and largest ever test of use of the technology to fight the disease. As well as bringing fresh hope in the fight against one of the world’s biggest killers, the study lays the foundations for further trials of gene-drive technology, which could mean self-destroying mosquitoes being released into the wild within 10 years. “This is a very exciting development,” said Dr Thomas Price, a senior lecturer in evolution, ecology and behaviour at the University of Liverpool, who was not involved in the research. “There are still lots of ethical and regulatory questions that need answering. But none of those really matter if it is impossible to build gene drives that are effective in the field. This is a major step towards achieving that.” Despite the reduction in malaria over recent decades there were still 229m cases of the disease in 2019, and 409,000 deaths. Dr Drew Hammond, at Imperial College London, who led the new research, said: “Gene drive is a self sustaining and fast acting technology that can work alongside existing tools such as bed nets, insecticides and vaccines, and could be a game changer in bringing about malaria elimination.”
World Nature Conservation Day: Technology to Forge a Path for Nature Conservation and Communities
17912P. Becker, Isand Conservation, 2021-07-28 15:23:24.
Gene drives are a genetic phenomenon that occurs in nature and causes a gene or trait to have a greater than 50% chance of inheritance. Island Conservation and partners have formed the Genetic Biocontrol of Invasive Rodents (GBIRd) partnership, to explore the technical and social feasibility of creating a gene drive to eliminate invasive rodents on islands. For example, a gene drive that causes rats to produce all male offspring spreads through an invasive population until there is no natural recruitment. On this World Nature Conservation Day, I would like to invite you to reflect on the scale, speed and costs of the efforts needed to address current conservation challenges. Gene drive could be a game-changer for conservation, making nature restoration and sustainable development gains possible on islands where these are currently out of reach today. Combined with existing tools, gene drive could transform the future of island restoration, drastically increasing the scope, scale, and pace of our work, and realizing benefits for island wildlife and communities around the world.
How An Altered Strand Of DNA Can Cause Malaria-Spreading Mosquitoes To Self-Destruct
17862R. Stein, NPR, 2021-07-28 15:19:15.
For the first time, scientists have shown that a new kind of genetic engineering can crash populations of malaria-spreading mosquitoes. In the landmark study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature Communications, researchers placed the genetically modified mosquitoes in a special laboratory that simulated the conditions in sub-Saharan Africa, where they spread the deadly disease. The male mosquitoes were engineered with a sequence of DNA known as a "gene drive" that can rapidly transmit a deleterious mutation that essentially wipes out populations of the insects. The goal is to create a powerful new tool to fight malaria, which remains one of the world's most terrible scourges. "Our study is the first [that] could show that gene-drive technology works under ecologically challenging conditions," says Ruth Muller, an entomologist who led the research at PoloGGB, a high-security lab in Terni, Italy. "This is the big breakthrough that we made with our study."
A lab experiment shows that we could engineer malaria-carrying mosquitoes to kill themselves off
17909A. Micu, ZME Science, 2021-07-28 15:17:37.
A new paper showcases how genetic engineering can be used to cause populations of malaria-spreading mosquitoes to self-destroy. An international research effort has shown, in the context of a lab experiment, that male mosquitoes engineered to carry a certain strand of DNA can rapidly destroy entire groups of these blood-sucking insects. The main importance of this experiment is that it showcases that gene-drive technology can be used even in harsh environmental conditions, such as those in sub-Saharan Africa. This “gene drive” sequence is essentially a damaging mutation that could prove to be a powerful tool against the carriers of malaria.
Malarial mosquitoes suppressed in experiments that mimic natural environments
17903H. Dunning, Phys Org, 2021-07-28 14:58:38.
Researchers have shown "gene drive" technology, which spreads a genetic modification blocking female reproduction, works in natural-like settings. The team, led by researchers from Imperial College London, Polo GGB and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine were able to suppress populations of a malaria-carrying mosquito in a year-long experiment mimicking natural environments. This is the first time a gene drive has been shown to be as effective as expected when tested in challenging ecological conditions over a long timescale. The results are published today in Nature Communications. Despite the reduction in malaria over recent decades, there were still 229 million cases of malaria in 2019—an increase on the previous year—and 409,000 deaths. Co-lead author of the study Dr. Drew Hammond, from the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial College London and the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, said: "The challenges facing malaria elimination have intensified in recent years, due in part to the spread of insecticide resistance and large gaps in funding for parts of sub-Saharan Africa.
A Sterile Solution: How Crispr Could Protect Wild Salmon
17821L. Abend, UNDARK, 2021-07-21 14:44:32.
In an attempt to prevent escaped fish from interbreeding with their wild counterparts and threatening the latter’s genetic diversity, molecular biologist Anna Wargelius and her team at the Institute of Marine Research in Norway have spent years working on ways to induce sterility in Atlantic salmon. Farmed salmon that cannot reproduce, after all, pose no threat to the gene pool of wild stocks, and Wargelius has successfully developed a technique that uses the gene-editing technology Crispr to prevent the development of the cells that would otherwise generate functioning sex organs. In fact, Wargelius’ team was a little too successful. To be financially viable, commercial fish farms need at least some of their stock to reproduce. So the scientists went a step further, developing a method of temporarily reversing the modification they had already made. They’ve created what they call “sterile parents.” The term may sound like an oxymoron, but the sterile parents have the potential to solve one of the most pressing problems facing salmon aquaculture, both in Norway and around the world. Wargelius says it could be up to a decade before the results of her work are commercially available, but once they are, they have the potential to make an already burgeoning food source markedly more friendly on the environment. And by prioritizing environmental concerns and employing a technique that simply turns off a gene rather than introducing one from a different species, Wargelius and her team may contribute to a shift in how genetic engineering is perceived in Norway, a country with some of the strictest regulations regarding genetically modified organisms on the books.
GM mosquitoes to fight malaria
17818I. Khisa, The INDEPENDENT, 2021-07-19 14:40:06.
Scientists at the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) plans to undertake a research on genetically engineered mosquitoes to tackle malaria. Dr. Jonathan Kayondo, the principal investigator Target Malaria Uganda and Senior Research Officer at UVRI had an email interview with The Independent’s Isaac Khisa about the research and here are the excerpts: n Uganda, Target Malaria’s research is still in early stages, currently at facility readiness. The Uganda Virus Research Institute became a primary Target Malaria project site in 2016. We have been laying the research groundwork by setting up the necessary infrastructure and building capacity of the teams. We constructed a new Arthropod Containment Level 2 (ACL2) insectary to facilitate future studies on development and evaluation of genetically modified mosquitoes following international containment guidelines and best practices. It was inaugurated in July 2019. Our teams are currently testing the facility for functionality by studying the local wild mosquitoes under containment and developing standard operating procedures (SOPs) as part of the capacity building efforts. We are also busy developing stakeholder engagement strategies and preparing to apply for regulatory approval for the next stage of our research.
Yes, genetically modified mosquitoes do exist, but they don’t bite and aren’t harmful to humans
17815E. Jones and M. Chamberlin, WKYC Studios, 2021-07-19 14:35:11.
In 2021, Oxitec, a biotechnology company that develops genetically modified insects that safely and sustainably control pests that spread disease, damage crops and harm livestock across the globe, partnered with the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District (FKMCD) to evaluate the effectiveness of Oxitec mosquitoes to control the invasive, disease-spreading Aedes aegypti mosquito in the Florida Keys. Aedes aegypti mosquitoes typically live in tropical and subtropical climates, according to the CDC. The agency says Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are more likely to spread Zika, dengue, chikungunya and other viruses than other types of mosquitoes because they live near and prefer to feed on people. “One of the things that sort of works against the Aedes aegypti is that they are anthropophilic,” said Dr. Floyd Shockley, the collections manager in the Department of Entomology at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. “Most of the mosquitoes that feed on humans tend to fly at night, but Aedes aegypti flies during the day. It's actually the mosquito that you usually run into when you're out hiking.” Dr. Nathan Rose, the head of Regulatory Affairs at Oxitec, tells VERIFY the company produces genetically modified male mosquitoes to target the wild Aedes aegypti female mosquitoes because they are the main vector for viral diseases.
Genetically Modifying Bats Could Prevent the Next Pandemic, Scientists Say
17744G. Dutton, BioSpace, 2021-07-15 13:26:12.
The next COVID pandemic could be prevented by using a gene drive to preemptively edit the genome of bats to prevent them from becoming hosts for coronaviruses, according to a proposal by scientists from Israel’s Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzelia and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Meanwhile, a team of researchers from Imperial College London is devising a way to prevent gene drives from spreading and conferring heritable, anti-competitive traits to entire populations. The two projects may be in conflict with one another, or the London project may provide a degree of safety that could manage unintended consequences. The IDC/NIH plan, Preventing COVID-59, was published recently on GitHub by Uaniv Erlich of the (IDC) and Daniel Douek of the Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases at the NIH in the U.S. Its premise is that the SARS-CoV-2 virus – the third such virus to infect humans in the past 20 years – is part of a growing pattern of betacoronaviruses infecting human populations.
Gene Drives – Engineering the Wild
17825L. Sharratt, Sentinel, 2021-07-13 14:52:05.
So far, genetically engineered organisms have been mostly limited to agricultural use, with partial success. Around the world, a few major crops (mostly corn, soy, and cotton) are genetically engineered, predominantly for herbicide tolerance and insect resistance. However, the newer techniques of genome editing (also called gene editing) mean that a much wider variety of organisms can now be genetically engineered, including for many purposes outside of food and farming. This increased power is most dramatically illustrated in the development of gene drive technology. Unlike genetically engineered plants and animals intended for confined use in agricultural production, gene drive organisms are expressly designed for intentional, long-lived release into the wild. Gene drives are a technology through which a few individual genetically engineered organisms would be deployed to intentionally push new genes through an entire population of a species in the wild or in a farm ecosystem. Through the gene drive mechanism, new genes would be inherited by all offspring in subsequent generations, not just the expected half in normal inheritance. When gene drive organisms reproduce, specific traits as well as the gene drive mechanism itself would be passed on. Making such spreading genetic changes to an organism, or eliminating it in the wild, could disrupt whole ecosystems in ways that are difficult or impossible to predict or reverse.
Unique effort underway to control deadly mosquitos in Florida Keys
17823K. Corso and L. Aguirre, Local10.com, 2021-07-12 14:48:28.
According to the World Health Organization, more than 50% of the world’s population is under the threat of mosquito borne diseases. In South Florida, the Keys are a hot spot for infection and now the first place in the United States for a novel approach to eradicating these deadly insects. A mosquito control effort in the works for over a decade is now off the ground. The Oxitec Project uses genetically modified Aedes Aegypti male mosquitos to mate with females of the Aedes Aegypti species which carry some of the deadliest diseases “Ades Aegypti themselves are responsible for transmitting Yellow Fever, Dengue Fever, Chikungunya, Zika virus, said Andrea Leal, entomologist and executive director of the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District. Only the female mosquitos bite so the Oxitec Project targets the female population of the species. “So with this project, we’re releasing males only and they’ve been modified with a female lethal gene which means as they go out and they mate with our wild females, all those female offspring will die,” Leal said.
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