Perspectives
Opinions on and about gene drive technologies and their uses.
Gene drive in plants emerges from infancy
Tags: Agriculture, Gene drive, Gene drive synthetic, Selfish genetic elementsM. J. A. Awan, R. Z. Naqvi, I. Amin and S. Mansoor, Trends in Plant Science, 2023.
Selfish genetic elements (SGEs) display biased transmission to offspring. However, their breeding potential has remained obscure. Wang et al. recently reported a natural gene-drive system that can be harnessed to prevent hybrid incompatibility and to develop a synthetic ...
The double-edged sword effect of expanding Wolbachia deployment in dengue endemic settings
Tags: Aedes, Dengue, Population modification/replacement, WolbachiaM. G. Pavan, G. A. Garcia, M. R. David and R. Maciel-de-Freitas, The Lancet Regional Health - Americas, 27:100610. 2023.
We can use Brazil as a showcase to foresee and avoid a double-edged sword effect associated with Wolbachia releases. Insecticide resistance of native Ae. aegypti populations is spread worldwide (http://aedes.irmapper.com), and positive results should boost Wolbachia deployment in ...
Engineered and natural gene drives: mechanistically the same, yet not same in kind
Tags: Gene drive, Gene drive synthetic, Governance, Risk and safetyR. F. Medina and J. Kuzma, Nature Communications, 14:5994. 2023.
We propose the use of the terms natural gene drive (NGD) and engineered gene drive (EGD) arguing against James et al.1, who think both should be included within the term “gene drive”, based on their mechanistic similarities. Thanks to CRISPR-Cas-based gene editing, engineered ...
Unleashing the swarm: Battling the global mosquito menace and defending public health
Tags: Dengue, Gene drive, Gene drive synthetic, Genetically modified mosquitoes, Malaria, MosquitoesJ. Entine and S. Moxon, Genetic Literacy Project, 2023.
There is one solution embraced by global health experts that should be pursued aggressively, if with some caution. Scientists in real-world trials have altered the genomes of entire animal populations, including mosquitoes, to thwart the vectoring of diseases and control pests ...
Gene Drive technologies for Malaria control in Africa: Who Should call the shots?
2023.Guerrilla eugenics: gene drives in heritable human genome editing
Tags: Ethics, Gene drive, Gene drive synthetic, Replicator/site directed nucleaseA. D. Cutter, J Med Ethics, 2023.
CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing can and has altered human genomes, bringing bioethical debates about this capability to the forefront of philosophical and policy considerations. Here, I consider the underexplored implications of CRISPR-Cas9 gene drives for heritable human genome ...
Malaria Cases In U.S. Trigger Unfounded Claims About Bill Gates, Mosquito Project
Tags: Anopheles, Genetically modified mosquitoes, Malaria, North AmericaB. Y. Lee, Forbes, 2023.
When the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an alert about finding four malaria cases in Florida and one malaria case in Texas, it created quite a buzz. After all, these were the first reported cases of people actually catching malaria in the U.S. since ...
Worldwide Experts on Gene Drives
Save Our Seeds, 2023.We are travelling the world speaking to some of the world's leading thinkers, activists and academics on the impact of gene drives. Join us for this video series as we hear from a diverse range of experts on one of the most controversial new emerging technologies that we face.
Generation game: gene-edited mosquitos to fight malaria
Tags: Gene drive, Gene drive synthetic, Malaria, Mosquitoes, Population modification/replacement, Population suppressionJ. Opara, Sci Dev Net, 2023.
Population-level changes in the genetic make-up of one of the world’s deadliest animals could provide a key in the fight against malaria, proponents of a radical new technology argue. So-called gene drive technology, where genetic changes are passed down through generations, ...
Cell biology: Selfish B chromosomes unleashed by a dysfunctional chromosome segregation system
Tags: Chromosomal drive, Fruit fly, Selfish genetic elementsP. Ferree, Current Biology, 33:R431-R434. 2023.
A study in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster shows that a defective chromosome segregation system allows non-essential B chromosomes to transmit at higher-than-Mendelian frequencies.
Genetically Engineered Mosquito experiment in California’s Central Valley halted
Tags: Aedes, Genetically modified mosquitoes, North America, OxitecH. Bourque, Friends of the Earth, 2023.
In a victory for environmentalists, scientists and vulnerable agricultural communities across California, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) announced yesterday the withdrawal of a permit request for a mass release of experimental genetically engineered ...
Editorial: Genetic control of insect pest species—achievements, challenges, and perspectives
Tags: Gene drive, Genetic biocontrol, Genetically modified organisms, Incompatible insect technique, Sterile insect technique (SIT)I. Häcker, D. Bartsch, A. Choo and F. Marec, Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 11. 2023.
Genetic control is a type ofbiological control and a promising approach to regulate insect pest populations in a species-specific manner. It is based on targeting the reproductive capacity of the target pest species to reduce population size to non-critical levels. The best known ...
Probing “Selfish” Centromeres Unveils an Evolutionary Arms Race
Tags: History, Rodents, Transmission distortionM. Lampson, The Scientist, 2023.
The so-called Robertsonian (Rb) fusions that led to these rapid karyotype changes are relatively common chromosomal rearrangements. But their accumulation in the populations of Madeira Island and in multiple other isolated mouse populations elsewhere is likely due to another ...
A gene drive is a gene drive: the debate over lumping or splitting definitions
Tags: Gene drive, Gene drive synthetic, Policy, Risk and safety, Risk assessment, Selfish genetic elementsS. L. James, D. A. O'Brochta, F. Randazzo and O. Akbari, Nature Communications, 2023.
Gene drive technologies are being considered as a new approach to address a variety of currently intractable global problems, including to prevent disease transmission, reduce crop loss, and preserve biodiversity1. There are some outside the genetics research community who argue ...
Synthetic gene drives as an anthropogenic evolutionary force
Tags: CRISPR, Evolution, Gene drive, Gene drive synthetic, Genetic engineering, Population genetics/dynamics, Transmission distortionA. D. Cutter, Trends in Genetics, 2023.
Genetic drive represents a fundamental evolutionary force that can exact profound change to the genetic composition of populations by biasing allele transmission. Herein I propose that the use of synthetic homing gene drives, the human-mediated analog of endogenous genetic ...
Gene Drives Are Coming
Tags: Anopheles, Gene drive, Gene drive synthetic, Malaria, Selfish genetic elementsD. Lowe, Science, 2023.
Consider the “gene drive” idea - there are a lot of variations, but the general idea is that you introduce a genetic sequence into an organism that can bias (drive) its own inheritance into the next generation. This is a thumb-on-the-scale unnatural selection if ever there ...
Gene Drives: Target Malaria is underestimating the risks
Tags: Anopheles, Gene drive, Gene drive synthetic, Population suppression, Risk and safety, Risk assessment, Target malariaC. Then, Testbiotech, 2023.
The Target Malaria consortium has for several years been planning to conduct field trials using genetically engineered mosquitoes in Burkina Faso. The aim is to transfer artificial gene constructs, i. e. the so-called ‘X-shredder’, into wild populations of the mosquitoes. ...
Gene Drives and Vector-Borne Diseases: A Comparative Perspective Using Malaria as a Case Study
Tags: Anopheles, Asia, Gene drive, Gene drive synthetic, MalariaS. Todi, The Takshashila Institution, 2023.
Gene drives are an emerging technological application to reduce the prevalence of vector-borne diseases, crop pests, and non-native invasive species. This method for vector control is currently at the research stage, with parallel community engagement programmes being carried out ...
Social justice environmental activists move to block gene editing to control invasive species and promote biodiversity. Here’s why they’re misguided
Tags: Biodiversity/Conservation, Ethics, Gene drive, Gene drive synthetic, Gene editing, Invasive species, Other mammals, Policy, RegulationS. Smyth, Genetic Literacy Project, 2023.
Control of invasive species has been extremely difficult with eradication virtually impossible. To control invasive plant species, chemicals are commonly used while in some instances removal of plants by hand, as Shiva advocates, is undertaken. Efforts to control invasive animals ...
Complicated expansion trajectories of insertion sequences and potential association with horizontal transfer of Wolbachia DNA
Tags: Population genetics/dynamics, Selfish genetic elements, WolbachiaY. H. Miao, D. W. Huang and J. H. Xiao, Zoological Research, 44:273-275. 2023.
Insertion sequences (ISs) are the simplest structural transposable elements (TEs) in prokaryotes, consisting only of a transposase coding sequence and its bilateral short terminal inverted repeats. Due to their gradually streamlined genomic construction, TEs rarely exist in the ...
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