Perspectives
Opinions on and about gene drive technologies and their uses.
New weapons to fight malaria transmission: A historical view
22487W. Huang, S.-J. Cha and M. Jacobs-Lorena, Entomological Research, 2022-05-02 07:19:32.
The stagnation of our fight against malaria in recent years, mainly due to the development of mosquito insecticide resistance, argues for the urgent development of new weapons. The dramatic evolution of molecular tools in the last few decades led to a better understanding of parasite?mosquito interactions and coalesced in the development of novel tools namely, mosquito transgenesis and paratransgenesis. Here we provide a historical view of the development of these new tools and point to some remaining challenges for their implementation in the field.
The Financialisation of Malaria in Africa: Burkina Faso, rogue capital & GM/gene drive mosquitoes
22066S. Mentz-Lagrange and S. Swanepoel, African Centre for Biodiversity, 2022-04-28 07:02:28.
This paper seeks to understand the financialisation of malaria as a vehicle for rogue capital in a context of a weakened state (through capture, corruption and coups) and the power that limits effective interventions. It shows how malaria, along with other diseases, is increasingly financialised – financial markets, institutions, actors and motives play a pivotal role in disease response. Country and donor funds are invested into research and development non-profit organisations, for example, that partner with market actors (such as pharmaceutical companies) to bring the product to market. Patents are sought and royalties procured from the sale of the product to country governments. These royalties are then accumulated by the research and development company, using vehicles such as endowment funds, for example. It show cases Burkina Faso as a real-world example of how rogue capital can enter a country and experiment with patented products, with impunity and no fear of accountability. It also illustrates how both historical and modern factors create conducive conditions for philanthrocapitalists such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the companies they fund, to exploit Africa as a living laboratory. The outcomes of risky experimental research such as genetically modified (GM) and gene drive mosquitoes is not yet known. What is known is that it is Africans who bear the consequences – not the owners of the technologies foisted on the continent.
Gene-drive mosquitoes, a prospect for future malaria control
21770S. A. Monawwer, A. O. I. Alzubaidi, F. Yasmin, S. M. Q. Haimour, S. M. I. Shay and I. Ullah, Pan African Medical Journal, 41:2-6. 2022-02-08 07:58:25.
Despite major developments in malaria control over the past two decades, the disease continues to scourge the human population across the globe. Rising concerns such as insecticide resistance amongst vector mosquitoes are a cause of huge fear amongst healthcare providers and policymakers. Amidst such dire circumstances, a recent development may form the blueprint for future malaria control as for the first time ever researchers were able to decimate an entire mosquito population using gene-drive technology within a span of one year in a multi-generation, ecologically challenging study. Despite some concerns, the technology displayed a high potential of becoming a powerful tool in malaria control.
Uncle Sam’s Dangerous Game
19218X. Ping, XINHUANET, 2021-11-07 21:33:52.
Since the very beginning, residents in Florida Keys doubted if the “self-limiting” gene of Genetically Modified (GM) mosquitoes brought and released there by Oxitec, a biotech firm, and approved by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Florida Keys Mosquito Control District (FKMCD), was as powerful as the company described. Oxitec said that the male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes carried a “self-limiting” gene that produces a fatal protein which can kill their female offspring. In this way, population of mosquitoes in FKMCD was expected to crash rapidly. But for many residents in Florida Keys, those GM mosquitoes were like a Trojan Horse: it was sent to their doorstep, without any notice in advance, but they did not know what could be hidden on the inside. In fact, this "horse" has already been sent to other places multiple times. Before 2021, when Oxitec started the GM mosquitoes experiment in Florida, the firm had already been testing their immature research in Brazil, Malaysia, and the Cayman Islands for a decade. Yet in 2019, scientists from Yale University found out that Oxitec’s technology might actually strengthen offspring of mosquitoes rather than kill them. Residents in Florida Keys therefore rejected the program, pointing out that the firm had not been forthright in telling them the possible health consequences of the experiment. The Florida Keys Environmental Coalition, a local voluntary organization, launched a petition with over 200,000 signatures against the Oxitec project.
Gene drive: a faster route to plant improvement
18859H. A. Siddiqui, T. Harvey-Samuel and S. Mansoor, Trends in Plant Science, 2021-10-06 18:24:37.
Gene drives for control of vector-borne diseases have been demonstrated in insects but remain challenging in plants. Theoretically, they could be transformative in speeding breeding programs and contributing to food security through providing novel weed control methods. Zhang et al. now report the possibility of implementing gene drive in plants for the first time.
Gene drive revolution: How genetically tweaked mosquitoes could tip the balance in the battle to contain malaria
18903F. Okumu, Genetic Literacy Project, 2021-10-06 14:24:37.
In 2016, a World Health Organisation (WHO) panel concluded that even with the best use of current approaches, there would still be 11 million malaria cases in 2050. What’s needed are longer-term integrated strategies to complement current methods. These may include large-scale environmental management to reduce Anopheles breeding, mosquito-proof homes, stronger health systems and public education focusing on disease prevention. Fortunately, new technologies are also being developed which could complement these strategies at lower cost and less effort. One particularly exciting example is the release of genetically programmed mosquitoes, which we call “protector mosquitoes”. Upon mating with wild mosquitoes they produce offspring that are either incapable of any further reproduction or unable to transmit malaria parasites.
Calling the latest gene technologies ‘natural’ is a semantic distraction — they must still be regulated
18752J. A. Heinemann, D. J. Paull, S. Walker and B. Kurenbach, The Conversation, 2021-09-22 13:41:22.
Legislators around the world are being asked to reconsider how to regulate the latest developments in gene technology, genome editing and gene silencing. Both the European Court of Justice and the New Zealand High Court have ruled that genome editing techniques should remain under the regulations specific to genetically modified organisms. But a few other countries, including Australia, have exempted some uses of these techniques from their regulations, based on similarities to what occurs in nature. The main argument is that the biochemical processes of editing are like the processes that cause natural mutations. The “equivalent to nature” narrative blurs the boundary between natural processes and technology.
The viral era
18352B. Giese, EMBO reports, 22:e53229. 2021-09-06 13:54:36.
New biotechnologies such as gene drives and engineered viruses herald a viral era that would give humans exceptional power over any organism at the level of the genotype. In synthetic biology, orthogonality—in the sense of lack of interference—between different systems or system components is sought for new creations. Current approaches to controlling gene drives also aim for orthogonality, but at a higher level of organisms, populations and species. To keep information under control, orthogonality and reversibility have to be guaranteed before any releases. As with chemical substances, where persistence and bioaccumulation are reasons for concern, the same should apply to genetic information released into nature
Africa must not rest until Malaria rests: What is the role of emerging technologies?
18165R. Oronje, AFIDEP, 2021-08-20 14:42:16.
As we mark the World Mosquito Day today, it is a sad reminder that Malaria still kills hundreds of thousands of people every year, majority of these people in Africa. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Malaria killed 409,000 people in 2019, and 94% of these deaths were in Africa. For those who survive the disease, they have many horrifying tales to tell because many get Malaria every so often, especially for those living in Malaria endemic regions. I have many horrifying tales of my experience with Malaria because I grew up in the Malaria-endemic region of Western Kenya. One of these tales is when I passed out in school when I was in Primary-4 because I had refused to take the very bitter Quinine tablets. My Mum was called to take me to hospital and by the time she arrived, I was in “hallucination mode” because all I remember is seeing two Mums lifting me up; and the next time I woke up, I was in a nearby health facility. My parents still live in this region, which means I visit them often and so every time I visit Western Kenya without taking prophylaxis, I can be sure I will come back with Malaria. But this blog is not about my horrifying Malaria tales, so I will not delve much more into that. Although many people in sub-Saharan Africa have suffered from Malaria, many are not aware of ongoing efforts to develop and test new tools with potential to eliminate Malaria. In a recent study by the African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP) on the “Landscape and Political Economy Analysis of Emerging Health Technologies in Sub-Saharan Africa”, we found that apart from the researchers developing these new tools and their funding agencies, other stakeholders including journalists, civil society actors, and policymakers know little, if anything, about the ongoing research on emerging health technologies, including those technologies being developed with potential to eliminate Malaria.
The Complex Lives of Mosquitoes: The Key for Malaria Control
18216F. Okumu, ISGlobal, 2021-08-19 15:19:27.
Mosquitoes spread diseases to millions of people around the world, yet they remain poorly understood by most. Studying their biology and behaviours can help us combat, and eventually eliminate, dangerous diseases such as malaria and dengue fever.There are nearly 3,500 species of mosquitoes. About 400 belong to a family called Anopheles, and of these, only about 50-70 can actually transmit malaria to humans. In Africa, where the malaria burden is highest, the most important are Anopheles gambiae, Anopheles funestus, Anopheles arabiensis and Anopheles colluzzi. Often, only one or two of these dominate malaria transmission in any country. Effective malaria control can therefore be achieved by simply identifying, understanding and then targeting just the one or two dominant Anopheles species instead of trying to kill all mosquitoes.A female Anopheles lays about 500 eggs in her lifetime, usually in standing fresh waters, although some breed along rivers or in brackish waters. The eggs weigh just 4 micrograms each and float like little pontoons on the water surfaces
New mosquito control tools are critical
18148L. Braack, Open Access Government, 2021-08-17 17:38:18.
Globally, we are making slow headway in the fight against malaria, but there has been progress, nonetheless. Since 2000, 39 countries and territories have managed to rid themselves of malaria; the most recent is China. Existing tools can achieve local elimination, but the battle is becoming harder and mosquitoes and parasites are able to change their defences, which is why we too have to constantly adapt and respond with better tools and strategies. We should also be on high alert; malaria has been distracting our attention from what will be our next global public health threat: mosquito-borne arboviruses such as Dengue, Chikungunya, Zika, Yellow Fever, West Nile Virus, Usutu, and a host of others few people have heard of. These arboviruses are spreading across the globe, each year more abundant. The mosquitoes that transmit them pose a different set of challenges, as most of them bite by day, with very different breeding habits. We must increase public awareness of the rising threat and invest much greater research effort to find ways to combat these viruses and mosquitoes.
Invasive Mice and Engineered Genes
17952W. M. Adams and K. H. Redford, Yale University Press Blog, 2021-08-02 12:36:13.
On Gough Island, a steep speck of land deep in the South Atlantic, giant mice eat albatross chicks as they sit on their nests. They are house mice, accidental arrivals on the ships of long-dead sealers. But they have lost their secretive, timid, mousy ways. Over numerous generations, on an island without predators, they have become predators themselves. They have grown bigger, and fierce. The internet offers gruesome videos of Tristan albatross chicks being eaten alive in the night. The house mice of Gough Island are examples of one of the most serious and intractable drivers of biodiversity decline, invasive species. Not all species introduced by people outside their normal range become invasive, but invasive species are the most common threat to amphibians, reptiles, and mammals on the IUCN Red List, and have been a contributing cause in a quarter of plant extinctions and a third of animal extinctions in recent centuries. Traditional tools for addressing invasive species include traps, guns, fences, and particularly poisons. Though often effective, these often have undesired, and sometimes unexpected, knock-on effects on native species. Synthetic biology, the application of new genetic tools like CRISPR, is being explored as a source of new approaches to control with fewer side effects. The use of such methods in conservation blurs the distinction between what is natural and what is human-made.
2021 WHO guidelines on genetically modified mosquitoes
18084M. Makoni, The Lancet Microbe, 2:e353. 2021-08-01 17:27:59.
On May 19, 2021, WHO updated its guidelines for research and development on genetically modified mosquitoes, which define the standards for decision-making about how and when testing should proceed and describe best practices to ensure that research done in a public health context is safe, ethical, and rigorous. TDR, WHO's Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, and the GeneConvene Global Collaborative, an initiative of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, developed the updated guidelines building on the 2014 recommendations, integrating the latest advancements in mosquito genetic modification. “Vector-borne diseases are a major global public health issue. Over 100 countries are endemic for diseases such as dengue, malaria, and Zika. Dengue alone puts 2·5 billion people at risk”, says John Reeder (TDR and Department of Research for Health, WHO). Attacking the mosquitoes is an effective way of controlling the transmission of these diseases, but it is a massive task. “We are badly in need of new technologies that will change the game and allow effective, widespread control”, Reeder told The Lancet Microbe.
Host-associated differentiation of target pests should be assessed before using gene drive as a pest control tool – an opinion
17955R. F. Medina, Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata, 2021-08-01 12:42:29.
Abstract Advances in gene editing have made feasible the potential use of gene drive for pest control. Ecological risk assessments will certainly be required before this technology can be released into open fields. In this article I argue for the importance to include host-associated differentiation (HAD) as part of ecological risk assessment models due to its potential to modulate gene drive spread and risk. Depending on context, HAD may hamper or facilitate pest control efforts using gene drives. Overlooking HAD may impair pest suppression goals and inflate estimations of effective population sizes whereas its inclusion within gene drive deployment strategies, as a form of ecological containment, may facilitate gene drive implementation under specific scenarios. Because HAD varies geographically and among closely related species, it will need to be assessed on a case-by-case basis. Failure to incorporate HAD within ecological risk assessment models may undermine pest control goals and diminish the accuracy of estimated ecological risks associated with gene drive releases.
Selfish DNA: how new gene technology could stop the advance of mice
17450M. McMillan, Tentenfield Star, 2021-06-15 17:20:08.
It used to be that seeing a mouse in the house was a rare occurrence. Now, it's rarely a day that goes by where we aren't seeing or hearing the little vermin. Current methods of baiting and trapping are struggling to control the plague of mice spreading across regional Australia. But a $1.8 million investment from the NSW government might soon give us a new weapon in the war. The government is investing in research into the use of gene drives, or "selfish DNA" - a genetic tool that can help us to control pests. How? Well, to understand gene drives we first need to understand the normal way in which genes are inherited. Mice, like humans, have two copies of each gene, one inherited from their mother and one from their father. We call these copies alleles, and they can be exactly the same or slightly different from each other. Normally, there is a 50/50 chance as to which allele will be passed on to any offspring. If one allele carries some sort of mutation, there is a 50 per cent chance that it will be passed on.
Living With the Limits of Our New Clerisy’s Knowledge
17306R. Fernandez, PJ Media, 2021-06-08 11:22:01.
We are living in a strange time when reason has fallen short of human expectations and there is, once again, pressure to place our trust in faith. Leighton Woodhouse hit the nail on the head when he argued that we have appointed a New Clerisy to rule over us, not because they are infallible but to save ourselves from the tide of uncertainty that seems to have engulfed our once seemingly confident global world. Unfortunately, the new clergy seem too fallible to take on trust. They flip-flop on expert advice and one scientist denounces the other on YouTube. Once things seemed more cut and dried. Once we were at the End of History. Science could predict the future more or less and the public hoped with increasing accuracy. Ever since the 17th century, the expectation was that the scientific revolution would supply the answers. As the frontier moved from the simple, computable problems of the early 20th century to complex systems — of which biotechnology, artificial intelligence, social networks, and eco-engineering are prime examples — they began to involve the management of uncertainty because it was difficult to control all the variables involved. The care with which some scientists have approached the subject of gene drives, a biological technology as powerful as “gain of function,” illustrates the challenges of dealing with uncertainties.
Why the EU should back research into gene drive – even if Europe never uses it
17132R. Müller, The Brussels Times, 2021-05-23 12:00:13.
As the EU’s Biodiversity Strategy reaches the European Parliament, it has reopened a worrying debate about research into gene drive technology, a tool which could pave the way for biasing the inheritance of desired genetic traits through targeted species. Advances in this kind of genetic technology could allow scientists to create a blueprint for stopping diseases spread by mosquitoes and protecting endangered species, both significant reasons for supporting this emerging field. Yet even if EU decision makers see no need for gene drive technology in Europe at present, there are compelling reasons for supporting ongoing research, and rejecting irresponsible and short-sighted calls for a moratorium. Firstly, the threat of malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases may be minimal today but it existed on the continent within living memory, with Europe first becoming malaria-free in 1975, and then again only as recently as 2015.
Drivers of mosquito mating
16110N. C. Manoukis, Science, 371:340. 2021-01-22 15:54:49.
Gene drive systems are based on the release of organisms whose genomes have been modified or engineered to spread a desired allele or trait (such as resistance to the parasites that cause malaria) through a population. Success will depend on the release of genetically modified males that will be able to mate with wild females. Beyond gene drive strategies, in mosquitoes it is understood that only males can be released as part of any genetic pest control (GPC) program (7); females feed on blood to lay eggs, and releasing insects that will feed on humans is widely unacceptable.
Mutagenic chain reaction cannot be sufficiently controlled
15135Christoph Then, Testbiotech, 2020-11-16 16:21:27.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published the results of its public consultation on the risks of so-called gene drive organisms. Testbiotech accuses the authority of disguising the real dimension of the risks. Gene drives are designed to spread artificial genetic constructs throughout populations of wild species much faster than would be expected naturally. Currently, gene drives are being developed with the aid of tools such as the CRISPR/Cas gene scissors. There are plans, e.g. to apply gene drives in insects (flies and mosquitoes) or rodents (rats or mice). The aim is to replace or eradicate natural populations. Once started the process cannot be controlled effectively or reliably. The damage to humans, the environment and nature could be severe.
The ethical way to alter organisms
15033K. Esvelt, Boston Globe, 2020-11-09 15:42:31.
As my colleagues and I first described in 2014, we can use CRISPR genome editing to duplicate the most powerful form of “gene drive,” a ubiquitous natural phenomenon that happens when a genetic change is inherited more frequently than usual. Encode the CRISPR machinery next to a useful edit we’ve made in the genome, and genome editing will reoccur in every generation, replacing the original with the edited version without limit. In principle, releasing such organisms would gradually alter entire wild populations and associated ecosystems.
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