Gene Drive in the News
A curated collection of articles from the popular press
Genetically engineered mosquitoes halt Dengue spread
6730L. Thomas, New Medical Life Sciences, 2020-01-16 18:44:27.
A new study published in the journal PLOS Pathogens in January 2020 reports the development of mosquitoes that have been genetically modified to resist infection by several types of the dengue virus. This is the first time ever that all types of the virus have been targeted by the engineering of the mosquito DNA. Covering all virus types is essential to achieve proper disease control.
Researchers Genetically Modify First Batch Of Mosquitoes Resistant To All Four Types Of Dengue
6725M. Dapcevich, IFL Science, 2020-01-16 18:39:05.
An international team of researchers have synthetically engineered a breed of mosquitos that are resistant to all four types of the dengue virus for the first time, a feat they say may someday suppress the disease and stop its transmission to humans.
Genetically engineered mosquitoes are immune to all strains of dengue virus for first time
6719G. Weule, ABC News Online, 2020-01-16 18:34:13.
Locked in a secure lab near Melbourne is the newest addition in the fight against dengue: genetically engineered mosquitoes that are resistant to all strains of the potentially deadly virus.
Mosquitoes resistant to all types of dengue virus engineered
6714N. Lavars, New Atlas, 2020-01-16 18:28:54.
Last year, scientists at Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) made a big breakthrough, engineering mosquitoes that break the chain of Zika virus transmission. But they did so with multiple targets in mind, with the mosquito in question, Aedes aegypti, also acting as the number one disease vector for the dengue virus. The researchers have now added this arrow to the quiver of their genetically-modified mosquitoes, with hopes of tackling what they see as a global epidemic.
The kill-switch for CRISPR that could make gene-editing safer
6647E. Dolgin, Nature, 577:308-310. 2020-01-15 20:32:43.
How anti-CRISPR proteins and other molecules could bolster biosecurity and improve medical treatments.
The gene drive dilemma: We can alter entire species but should we?
6302J. Kahn, New York Times Magazine, 2020-01-08 20:03:00.
One early summer evening in 2018, the biologist Anthony James drove from his office at the University of California, Irvine, to the headquarters of the Creative Artists Agency, a sleek glass-and-steel high-rise in Los Angeles. There, roughly 200 writers, directors and producers — many of them involved in the making of science-and-technology thrillers — were gathered for an event called Science Speed Dating, where James and other scientists would explain their work. The sessions were organized, James told me, “in hopes of getting the facts at least somewhat straight.”
DNA ‘edit’ that could wipe out grey invaders
6249Levy, A., Scottish Daily Mail, 2020-01-07 19:25:25.
It is the big, brash invasive species whose advance has left the native red squirrel clinging on for survival in areas where once it thrived. But the march of the grey squirrel could be halted by a 'gene drive', say researchers at the laboratory responsible for Dolly the sheep.
Red squirrels to thrive again in Britain as new plan considered to eradicate grey breed
6246Hudson, W., Express, 2020-01-06 19:17:19.
RED SQUIRRELS could soon be thriving in Britain again as a new plan to put an end to destructive grey squirrels is being developed. The 150 year reign of the grey squirrel could come to a halt from DNA editing to ensure all future females are born infertile. Researchers at the Roslin Institute want to create gene-edited squirrels for eventual release into the wild. The genetics laboratory is renowned for its 1996 creation of Dolly the Sheep, the world’s first mammal cloned from an adult cell.
Scientists want to hack grey squirrels to death
6243Cutlack, C., Gizmodo, 2020-01-06 19:11:01.
Scottish scientists are planning to hack the DNA of the often-hated grey squirrel, in hope that selectively breeding a broken female strain could lead to their eventual eradication from the wild. It's the only way a map of Scotland is likely to turn red in the foreseeable future.
Scientists behind Dolly the sheep want to edit squirrel DNA to get rid of greys and protect reds UK
6240Bedoya, D., Inforsurhoy, 2020-01-06 19:05:21.
The scientists who cloned Dolly the sheep are now targeting grey squirrels in a bid to rid Britain of them altogether.
First they cloned Dolly the sheep. Now they’re targeting grey squirrels
6218Leake, J., The Times, 2020-01-05 21:25:05.
For 150 years they have wreaked havoc on Britain’s woods and wildlife, but the destructive reign of the grey squirrel could soon be over — ended by DNA editing to ensure that all future females are born infertile. Researchers at the Roslin Institute, the genetics laboratory renowned for its 1996 creation of Dolly the Sheep, the world’s first mammal cloned from an adult cell, want to create gene-edited squirrels for eventual release into the wild.
Dolly the sheep scientists hope DNA editing can wipe out grey squirrels
6215McLaughlin, M., The Scotsman, 2020-01-05 21:20:21.
They have been poisoned, shot at, and stumbled into traps laid by those who regard them as a ruinous blight on the country’s woodland and wildlife. But now, the grey squirrel is facing arguably its biggest threat yet, with plans to harness the cutting edge of genetic science to bring their destructive reign to an end.
Senegal celebrates first victory against tsetse fly eradication
27128FAO, FAO, 2020-01-01 13:40:22.
A campaign against the tsetse fly, a pest that transmits a disease that devastates livestock, in the Niayes area near the capital Dakar started four years ago paving the way for complete eradication of this pest. “I have not seen a single tsetse fly for a year now,” said cattle farmer Oumar Sow. “This is in contrast to earlier, when they increased in numbers, especially during the cold season. The flies were really a nuisance to our animals and we had to carefully select the time for milking. Now, there is no problem with that.” Senegal has successfully integrated an insect birth control technique using irradiation to sterilize male flies, reducing the fly population over time. The technique has already eradicated the fly population in one area in the Niayes, suppressed it in another by 98 per cent, while the technique will be implemented in a third area in 2016, said Baba Sall, Project Manager at Senegal’s Ministry of Livestock and Animal Production.
These are the 5 most dystopian technologies of 2020 and beyond
6188M. Sullivan, FastCompany, 2019-12-28 19:13:46.
Tech is always both good and bad. But we live in a time when everything gets weaponized—ideas, images, ancient texts, biases, and even people. And technology provides the tools to do it easier, faster, and with less resources.
CRISPR-based gene-drives: from eukaryotes to prokaryotes
5934Nizet, V., Bioengineering Community, 2019-12-21 17:49:35.
Active genetics technology greatly biases transmission of genetic traits, bypassing traditional constraints of Mendelian inheritance and spreading rapidly through wild populations (1). Molecularly defined gene drive constructs in Saccharomyces cerevisiae were copied at efficiencies exceeding 99% when mated to wild yeast (2). Using active genetics to bias inheritance of desired alleles in laboratory mice appears to enable rapid assembly of otherwise impractical genotypes involving multiple homozygous genes (3). In another example, vector mosquito Anopheles stephensi was engineered to carry Cas9, a gRNA and antimalarial gene cassette and might be introduced to block propagation of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum (4).
New CRISPR system efficiently battles antibiotic resistance
5673Black, Samantha, The Science Advisory Board, 2019-12-16 19:02:07.
Researchers from the University of California San Diego have developed a brand new CRISPR-based gene-drive system that dramatically increases the efficiency of inactivation of genes responsible for antibiotic resistance. The new system is detailed on December 16 in Nature Communications. Genes conferring antibiotic resistance are often found on plasmids, circular forms of DNA that can replicate independently of the bacterial genome. Amplification effects of these plasmids can lead to the transfer of antibiotic resistance among bacteria. This poses a significant challenge to disrupt this function. Researchers have developed several cut-and-destroy methods but have had only moderate success with them.
Antibiotic resistance hoops countered by gene drive feedback loops
5670GEN, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News, 2019-12-16 18:56:57.
Where a gene drive that cuts and destroys plasmids may fail, a gene drive that cuts, pastes, and copies plasmids may succeed. The “where,” in this case, is an antibiotic-resistant bacterium that carries multiple copies of an antibiotic-resistance gene. That is, the target gene occurs on multiple copies of an “amplified” plasmid. If some plasmids remain intact, the antibiotic-resistance gene persists and may even be passed to other bacteria. To overcome this problem, scientists based at the University of California (UC), San Diego, developed a gene drive that incorporates a self-amplifying mechanism. Called Pro-AG, for “proactive” active genetics, it increases its efficiency through a positive feedback loop.
Tackling antibiotic resistance head-on with CRISPR
5937Thomas, L., News Medical Life Sciences, 2019-12-16 17:58:59.
With modern advances in genetic engineering occurring almost every day, the latest discovery concerns antibiotic resistance. Using the powerful gene editor CRISPR, scientists reported the development of a gene-drive system that is 100 times as efficient as other current systems at inactivating a specific bacterial gene responsible for making the bacterium antibiotic-resistant and which is present as multiple copies within the same bacterial cell. The paper, published on December 16, 2019, in the journal Nature Communications, uses the technology called active genetics, pioneered by biologists at UC San Diego.
Gene Drives: Assessing the benefits & risks
5684Creighton, J., Future of Life, 2019-12-05 19:20:26.
Most people seem to understand that malaria is a pressing problem, one that continues to menace a number of areas around the world. However, most would likely be shocked to learn the true scale of the tragedy. To illustrate this point, in 2017, more than 200 million people were diagnosed with malaria. By the year’s close, nearly half a million people had died of the disease. And these are the statistics for just one year. Over the course of the 20th century, researchers estimate that malaria claimed somewhere between 150 million and 300 million lives. With even the lowest figure, the death toll is still more than World War I, World War II, the Vietnam War, and the Korean War combined. Although its pace has slowed in recent years, according to the World Health Organization, malaria remains one of the leading causes of death in children under five. However, there is new hope, and it comes in the form of CRISPR gene drives.
Out for blood: the fight against the planet’s deadliest creature
5681Matsangou, E., The New Economy, 2019-12-02 19:16:40.
The deadliest creature on the planet is not a great white shark, a starved lion, an enraged hippopotamus or a poisonous snake – it’s the minute mosquito. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), mosquitoes kill millions of people each year, with malaria – the most deadly mosquito-borne disease – responsible for more than half of these fatalities. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has noted: “Malaria’s economic impact is estimated to cost billions of dollars in lost productivity every year.”
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