Gene Drive in the News

A curated collection of articles from the popular press

Gene drive organisms: Warning of risks due to uncontrolled releases

Then, C,  Testbiotech,  2018-10-12 00:00:00.
The German Ministry for the Environment has in response to an open letter sent by several civil society organisations issued a statement very critical of genetically engineered organisms carrying a so-called gene drive. The ministry announced that it will take action on an international level to make sure that the associated risks are fully investigated.

Forcing the Farm

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etc group,  etc group,  2018-10-10 00:00:00.
This report is being issued as an alert to governments, civil society organisations and grassroots movements. It points to how gene drives, while promoted as a tool for medicine and conservation, will find their real use in food and farming by agribusiness. It calls for a pause in applied research in gene drives and a halt on releases to the environment until a thorough and public process of dialogue has taken place and rules are established that ensure clear consent and defence of food sovereignty

Gene drive used to turn all female mosquitos sterile

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Timmer, J,  ARS Technica,  2018-09-27 00:00:00.
We've known for a long time that we can limit malaria infections by controlling the mosquitos that transmit them. But that knowledge hasn't translated into control efforts that have always been completely successful. Many of the approaches we've used to control mosquitos have caused environmental problems, and mosquito populations are large enough that they have evolved resistance to many of our pesticides.; ; That made the development of what are called "gene drive" constructs exciting (if a bit scary). They have the potential to rapidly spread genes throughout a population—including a mosquito population. But the prospect of a modern genetic control of mosquito populations has run up against the very old problem of evolution, as the gene drives often stall due to genetic changes that allow mosquito populations to escape their impact.

Malaria mosquitoes wiped out in lab trials of gene drive testing

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Kelland, K,  The Wire,  2018-09-26 00:00:00.
London: Scientists have succeeded in wiping out a population of caged mosquitoes in laboratory experiments using a type of genetic engineering known as a gene drive, which spread a modification blocking female reproduction.; ; The researchers, whose work was published on Monday in the journal Nature Biotechnology, managed to eliminate the population in less than 11 generations, suggesting the technique could in future be used to control the spread of malaria, a parasitic disease carried by Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes.

Gene drives breakthrough needs urgent restraint

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Steinbrecher, R,  GMWatch,  2018-09-24 00:00:00.
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.

Here’s the Plan to End Malaria With Crispr-Edited Mosquitoes

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Molteni, M,  Wired,  2018-09-24 00:00:00.
In 2003, scientists at London’s Imperial College hatched a somewhat out-there idea. They wanted to deal with the increasingly pesticide-resistant mosquitoes that were killing half a million people a year by spreading malaria in sub-Saharan Africa. What biologists Austin Burt and Andrea Crisanti proposed was nothing short of hacking the laws of heredity.; ; By planting a deadly gene in mosquito DNA, and engineering it such that the modification would spread through each generation faster than nature intended, they figured they could completely crash a population with just a few Trojan skeeters. This concept of a “gene drive” was decades-old, but no one had successfully concocted one in a lab, let alone applied it to a global public health scourge.

A swarm of mutant mosquitoes is out to eradicate malaria

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O'Mahony, J,  Wired,  2018-09-21 00:00:00.
Over the next year in the village of Bana, Burkina Faso, a group of scientists will set loose up to 10,000 mosquitoes sprinkled with fluorescent dust. The sterile, male swarm will represent the first ever release of a genetically modified, malaria carrying mosquito species into the wild. It's a milestone not only for science, but also for community engagement and regulatory hurdles in Africa.; ; Most significantly, however, these mosquitoes will lay the ground for the eventual deployment of a powerful biological tool which researchers hope will one day stop malaria altogether.

Gene Drive

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Collins, CH,  Scientific American,  2018-09-14 00:00:00.
Research into a genetic engineering technology that can permanently change the traits of a population or even an entire species is progressing rapidly. The approach uses gene drives—genetic elements that pass from parents to unusually high numbers of their offspring, thereby spreading through populations rather quickly. Gene drives occur naturally but can also be engineered, and doing so could be a boon to humanity in many ways. The technology has the potential to stop insects from transmitting malaria and other terrible infections, enhance crop yields by altering pests that attack plants, render corals resistant to environmental stress, and keep invasive plants and animals from destroying ecosystems. Yet investigators are deeply aware that altering or even eliminating a species could have profound consequences. In response, they are developing rules to govern the transfer of gene drives from the laboratory into future field tests and wider use.

When Evolution Fights Back Against Genetic Engineering

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Borel, B,  Quanta Magazine,  2018-09-08 00:00:00.
In a crowded auditorium at New York’s Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in August, Philipp Messer, a population geneticist at Cornell University, took the stage to discuss a powerful and controversial new application for genetic engineering: gene drives.; ; Gene drives can force a trait through a population, defying the usual rules of inheritance. A specific trait ordinarily has a 50-50 chance of being passed along to the next generation. A gene drive could push that rate to nearly 100 percent. The genetic dominance would then continue in all future generations. You want all the fruit flies in your lab to have light eyes? Engineer a drive for eye color, and soon enough, the fruit flies’ offspring will have light eyes, as will their offspring, and so on for all future generations. Gene drives may work in any species that reproduces sexually, and they have the potential to revolutionize disease control, agriculture, conservation and more. Scientists might be able to stop mosquitoes from spreading malaria, for example, or eradicate an invasive species.

For the first time, researchers will release genetically engineered mosquitoes in Africa

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Ike Swetitz,  STAT,  2018-09-05 18:02:01.
The government of Burkina Faso granted scientists permission to release genetically engineered mosquitoes anytime this year or next, researchers announced Wednesday. It’s a key step in the broader efforts to use bioengineering to eliminate malaria in the region.

Existing rules cover gene-drive usage

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Strassheim, S.S., W.,  Nature,  2018-07-18 00:00:00.

Letter: Gene Drive and Trust in Science

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Boëte, C,  GeneWatch,  2018-07-18 00:00:00.
In a recent paper, Emerson et al. present five principles for gene drive research that they argue should be adopted by its sponsors and supporters: 1) advancing quality science to promote the public good; 2) the promotion of stewardship, safety, and good governance principles; 3) transparency and accountability; 4) engaging thoughtfully with affected communities, stakeholders, and publics; and 5) fostering opportunities to strengthen capacity and education.1 Emerson et al. report that 13 organizations, including Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the U.S. Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH), have made a commitment to honor the five principles.

Gene drives accelerate evolution – but we need brakes

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Tsai, Y-HP, Tony,  The Conversation,  2018-07-05 00:00:00.
Worried about mice in the kitchen? Fed up with pigeons on your way to work? Teed off by weeds on your lawn? Recent work points to a way that might just reduce – or even eliminate – unwanted species in a short period. The method is based on something called a gene drive – a method of making changes to an entire population of a specific species by altering its genetic material (its genome).; ; Although gene drives are today restricted to the confines of a few laboratories, they have immense promise. In addition to potential pest removal they might, for example, allow us to make livestock more resilient to disease, enhance the nutritional value of crops, or eliminate the mosquitoes that transmit infectious diseases such as zika and malaria.

How science could wipe out disease-carrying mosquitoes and save lives

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Elliot, JK,  Global News,  2018-06-15 00:00:00.
Mosquitoes kill hundreds of thousands of people every year by spreading disease in tropical areas. They’re also the worst part of many cottage weekends and camping trips in North America.; ; But it doesn’t have to be that way.; ; Scientists are developing two methods for eliminating mosquitoes that carry disease, which could be deployed sometime within the next 15 years.; ; The first, dubbed the sterile insect technique, could be used to kill off disease-carrying mosquitoes in urban areas.

Gene drive technology considered in the fight to save native animals from feral cats

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Smail, S,  ABC News Online,  2018-05-30 00:00:00.
Feral cats kill thousands of native animals every minute — now a controversial plan to use gene drive technology as a weapon against them is being considered by the Federal Government

Gene drive put to work for first time.

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Arnason, R,  The Western Producer,  2018-05-03 00:00:00.
A disruptive technology that potentially could eliminate or reduce the need for insecticides may soon be coming to market. In a paper published April 17 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, University of California, San Diego biologists announced they have developed a gene drive to control an agricultural pest. The pest is the spotted wing drosophila, a fruit fly that damages berry and fruit crops. “This is the first gene drive system in a major worldwide crop pest,” said Omar Akbari, of UC San Diego. “This system could in the future be used to control populations of (drosophila).” A gene drive is a tool to spread a genetic alteration into a wild population of a certain species. In nature, there is on average a 50 percent chance of a parent passing a particular trait to an offspring. With a gene drive, a specified gene is inherited by all offspring, even if it is present in only one parent

Gene Drives

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SciLine,  SciLine,  2018-04-25 20:09:28.
For many years now, scientists have been able to alter genes inside microbial, plant, and animal cells to change organisms’ traits, creating, for example, plants that produce their own protective insecticides and fish that grow to maturity almost twice as fast as normal. But while it has become practically routine for scientists to genetically alter individual organisms, a new set of advances promises something much more ambitious: the ability to propagate new genetic traits* into entire populations over just a few generations. Rapid, population-wide dissemination of new traits is challenging because in most sexually reproducing species, only half of an individual’s offspring will inherit any given version of a gene.

Rats join mosquitoes as targets for ‘gene drive’ pest control.

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Hirschler, B,  Reuters,  2017-12-17 00:00:00.
Rodents have joined mosquitoes in the cross-hairs of scientists working on a next-generation genetic technology known as “gene drive” to control pests.; Researchers in Scotland said on Tuesday they had developed two different ways to disrupt female fertility in rats and mice, building on a similar approach that has already been tested in the lab to eliminate malaria-carrying mosquitoes.; So-called gene drives push engineered genes through multiple generations by over-riding normal biological processes, so that all offspring carry two copies. Usually, animals would receive one copy of a gene from the mother and one from the father.

‘Gene Drives’ Are Too Risky for Field Trials, Scientists Say

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Zimmer, C,  New York Times,  2017-11-16 00:00:00.
In 2013, scientists discovered a new way to precisely edit genes — technology called Crispr that raised all sorts of enticing possibilities. Scientists wondered if it might be used to fix hereditary diseases, for example, or to develop new crops.; ; One of the more intriguing ideas came from Kevin M. Esvelt and his colleagues at Harvard University: Crispr, they suggested, could be used to save endangered wildlife from extinction by implanting a fertility-reducing gene in invasive animals — a so-called gene drive.

Could genetic engineering save the Galapagos?

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S. S. Hall,  Scientific American,  2017-11-01 19:26:09.
Campbell has been working on eradications in the Galápagos since 1997, including a 2006 campaign to remove all the feral goats and donkeys from Floreana. A decade later he’s a project manager with Island Conservation, and the most ambitious project on its agenda is once again on Floreana: to eradicate every single rat and mouse on the island.

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