Gene Drive in the News
A curated collection of articles from the popular press
Malaysia Wolbachia trials: Battling dengue and other mosquito-borne viruses
170592019-11-22 13:47:09.
This gene technology could change the world. Its maker isn’t sure it should
Love, S., Vice, 2019-11-18 19:26:28.Kevin Esvelt came up with a way to use gene editing for gene drives, a technology that could change the ecological fate of the whole world. How does one scientist deal with the potential ramifications of his own creation? There’s a chilling calculation that’s simple enough to solve on the back of an envelope: How many children’s lives will Kevin Esvelt personally be responsible for if he makes one mistake on the job? Depending on the variables, the final figure could be between 25,000 and 2.5 million. Even the lower end of that range is horrifying. “Just imagine 25,000 dead children. It’s nearly impossible. That’s like a third of the children in Boston,” Esvelt said, gesturing out his window at the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “Because I said the wrong thing. Because I failed to think about the consequences of my actions.”
Wiping out the daughters: Burkina Faso’s controversial mosquito experiment
5679Boersma, H. and J. Bastmeijer, The Guardian, 2019-11-18 19:10:31.
A radical experiment to genetically modify a strain of mosquito in order to stop them breeding malaria-carrying daughters is one of the latest efforts to tackle the deadly scourge of malaria
‘We don’t want to be guinea pigs’: how one African community is fighting genetically modified mosquitoes
15233A. Pujol-Mazzini, The Telegraph, 2019-10-08 16:47:08.
Researchers from the Target Malaria consortium, a not-for-profit research group funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and various research institutions, have developed a mosquito in their laboratory that can kill off its own species by spreading a faulty gene. If it works in the wild, the technology – called gene drive – could help eliminate malaria where decades of efforts involving bed nets, repellents and insecticides have failed.
Gene drives in Wisconsin agriculture: What are they, and should you support it?
6026Jones, M. and Mitchell, P. D., Renk Agribusiness Institute, 2019-10-02 20:34:10.
Spotted wing drosophila and citrus psyllid are not serious economic problems for Wisconsin agriculture. However, these and other smaller, geographically limited applications of gene drives are excellent ways to prove the concept and refine the methods. Pending the outcome of these limited-scale applications, we are likely to eventually see implications for row crop agriculture such as the management of serious and widespread pests such like corn rootworm, European corn borer, soybean aphid and Colorado potato beetle. Applications which could provide tremendous benefits to Wisconsin producers.
Gene Drive Mosquitoes: Ethics, Environment and Efficacy
18233L. Wilburn, ScienceInnovationUnion, 2019-09-20 17:06:38.
The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation has recently donated over $75 million to fund gene drive mosquito research by Target Malaria , a consortium that aims to develop technology for malaria control. The first planned release of gene drive mosquitoes is set to happen over the next two years in Burkina Faso, West Africa. But what exactly is gene drive, why do we need it and what are the wider implications of the technology? Malaria is a parasitic disease spread by the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito. Malaria can present as a range of symptoms including, mild fever, muscle pains (which can progress to severe malaria where the patient can experience severe anaemia and bleeding), renal failure, neurological disorders and death. In 2017, there were an estimated 219 million cases and 435,000 deaths attributed to malaria (1). Over 91% of these cases occurred in the Africa region, and children under the age of 5 were at the highest risk of contracting severe malaria. Fortunately, due to interventions such as insecticide-treated bed nets, indoor spraying of insecticides and improved medical infrastructure, from 2010-2017 malaria deaths were reduced by an estimated 28% (1). However, these control efforts may be severely jeopardised due to the rapid emergence of resistance to all insecticide classes and the most effective anti-malarial drugs (2, 3). Currently, there are only five classes of insecticides approved for public health use. In areas such as West Africa, there are multi-resistant mosquitoes which show resistance to all insecticide classes (4). Therefore, if the World Health Organisation (WHO) is to meet its goal of reducing global malaria by 90% by 2030, novel and effective strategies for malaria control must be identified (5). One such proposed strategy is gene drive mosquitoes.
Scientists release sterile mosquitoes in Burkina to fight malaria
17024T. Ndiaga, Reuters, 2019-09-18 13:18:20.
Scientists in Burkina Faso have deployed a new weapon in the fight against malaria, and waded into a thorny bioethics debate, by letting loose thousands of genetically sterilized mosquitoes.Their experiment is the first outside the lab to release genetically altered mosquitoes in the hope of reducing their ability to spread the often deadly disease. It works using a technique called a gene drive, which edits and then propagates a gene in a population - in this case to prevent males from producing offspring. Investments in anti-malarial drugs, mosquito nets and insecticides have slowed malaria over the past two decades in Africa, which accounts for more than 90% of global cases. But malaria still killed more than 400,000 people across the continent in 2017, and the World Health Organization says progress against the disease is stalling, leading researchers to push for fresh approaches.
Genetically engineered mosquitoes out of control
4534GM Watch, GM Watch, 2019-09-11 00:00:00.
According to a new scientific publication, genetically engineered mosquitoes produced by the biotech company Oxitec (Intrexon) have escaped human control after trials in Brazil. They are now spreading in the environment. The yellow fever mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti) are genetically engineered to make it impossible for their offspring to survive. After release they were supposed to mate with female mosquitoes of the species which transmit infectious diseases, such as Dengue fever, to diminish the natural populations.
Dit Afrikaanse dorp krijgt, als eerste plek ter wereld, gentechmuggen tegen malaria
5676Boersma, Hidde, de Volkskrant, 2019-09-09 19:06:00.
Dit Afrikaanse dorp krijgt, als eerste plek ter wereld, gentechmuggen tegen malaria
Self-destructing mosquitoes and sterilized rodents: the promise of gene drives
6645M. Scudellari, Nature, 571:160-162. 2019-07-09 20:27:18.
Altering the genomes of entire animal populations could help to defeat disease and control pests, but researchers worry about the consequences of unleashing this new technology.
B chromosome first—mechanisms behind the drive of B chromosomes uncovered
17167Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research, Phy Org, 2019-06-04 19:27:50.
The specific number of chromosomes is one of the defining characteristics of a species. Whilst the common fruit fly carries 8 chromosomes, the genome of bread wheat counts 42 chromosomes. In comparison, the human genome is made out of a total of 46 chromosomes. However, about 15% of all eukaryotic species additionally carry supernumerary chromosomes referred to as "B chromosomes". Other than the essential chromosomes of the genome, B chromosomes are expendable and often preferentially inherited. This leads to a transmission advantage for B chromosomes called "chromosome drive". To date, little knowledge exists about the mechanisms behind this phenomenon. Researchers from the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) in Gatersleben have now been able to decipher the mechanisms behind the drive of B chromosomes in the goatgrass Aegilops speltoides. The novel insights in the workings of chromosome drive were recently published in New Phytologist.
Gene drive organisms: What Africa should know about actors, motives and threats to biodiversity and food systems
5923Sirinathsinghji, E., African Centre for Biodiversity., 2019-05-13 16:51:45.
In this briefing paper, we set out the key issues that our governments should have addressed with African civil society before endorsing positions and setting the benchmark for Africa-wide policy. In this regard, we point out that, while the impetus for the AU position might well have been gene drive technologies proposed by the Gates-funded Target Malaria consortium, as a tool to reduce the transmission of malaria on the continent, the debate about gene drive organisms goes well beyond gene drive mosquitoes. Plans by gene drive developers target pests, pollinators, weeds and the speeding up of plant breeding programmes. The logic of using these technologies in agriculture relies on the continued deception that exceedingly complex problems in the food system in Africa can be resolved simply by new high-tech innovations, while downplaying their potential risks to biodiversity and livelihoods.
Gene drive technology makes mouse offspring inherit specific traits from parents
4531Cooper, KLG, Hannah A., The Conversation, 2019-01-24 00:00:00.
As mouse geneticists, we spend a lot of time waiting for mice to make more mice. Their small size, ease of care and willingness to mate have made mice the “mammal of choice” for scientists for more than a century. Indeed, these wriggly fur balls that strike fear in the hearts of some are owed a debt of gratitude for all they’ve taught researchers about human health and how mammalian bodies are built and function.
Gene drive tested in mice – Expert Reaction
4541Science Media Centre, Science Media Centre, 2019-01-24 00:00:00.
Using CRISPR genome editing, the researchers developed a process to make a gene more likely to be inherited than by chance alone. Their attempts with male mice were unsuccessful, but when it was used in females they increased the inheritance of the desired gene from 50 per cent to about 70 per cent, which they say might be enough for use in the lab.
Gene editing research highlights challenges in using CRISPR for pest control
4532Dreaver, C, Radio New Zealand, 2019-01-24 00:00:00.
US researchers have had some success in using the gene editing technique CRISPR to test out a gene drive in mice, to modify their genes - highlighting the challenges researchers face if it were to be used in pest eradication.
Tool for controlling genetic inheritance tested in mice for the first time
4535Hays, B, UPI, 2019-01-24 00:00:00.
With further development we think it will be possible to make animal models of complex human genetic diseases, like arthritis and cancer, that are not currently possible, said researcher Kimberly Cooper.
Gene drive, a powerful way to speed genetic inheritance, shown for first time in mammals, UCSD researchers say
4533Fikes, BJ, San Diego Union Tribune, 2019-01-23 00:00:00.
Gene drive -- the ability to shortcut genetic inheritance by propelling a gene throughout a population -- has been demonstrated in principle for the first time in mammals.; ; UC San Diego scientists reported this feat in mice in a study released Wednesday in the journal Nature. It can be found at http://j.mp/ucsdgenedrive. A previous study from UCSD researchers demonstrated this feat in insects, also a first at its time
Gene Drives Work in Mice (if They’re Female)
4538Rennie, JC, Jordana, Quanta Magazine, 2019-01-23 00:00:00.
Conservationists and bioethicists often regard the packages of engineered DNA called “gene drives” with a mixture of wonder, excitement and dread. Gene drives violate the normal rules of inheritance by making sure they get passed down to all of their host organism’s offspring, not just to half of them; they therefore have the unnerving potential to rapidly and irrevocably alter a population. Much of the controversy about gene drives has centered on the practicality (and hubris) of using them to control dangerous insect pests, since insects were about the only animals in which gene drives had been shown to work.
La reacción genética en cadena llega a los mamíferos
4537Mediavilla, D, El Pais, 2019-01-23 00:00:00.
Un experimento muestra que la edición de los genes puede introducir cambios en especies completas que permitan incluso su extinción en un área geográfica
Researchers first to use CRISPR/Cas9 to control genetic inheritance in mice
4529University of California, Phys Org, 2019-01-23 00:00:00.
Biologists at the University of California San Diego have developed the world's first CRISPR/Cas9-based approach to control genetic inheritance in a mammal.
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