Scholarly Literature
This is a database of scholarly literature that concentrates currently on natural and engineered selfish genetic elements (gene drives). The latest are shown here.
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Gene drives: benefits, risks, and possible applications
12414A. Deplazes-Zemp, U. Grossniklaus, F. Lefort, P. Müller, J. Romeis, A. Rüegsegger, N. Schoenenberger and E. Spehn, Swiss Academies Factsheets, 15. 2020-06-05 19:48:13.
Gene drives are genetic elements that skew the pattern of inheritance of a given characteristic in sexually reproducing organisms. They can be used to spread a characteristic that can alter or even reduce the numbers of individuals in wild populations of a certain species. As they spread by being inherited from one generation to the next, they could persist in populations long-term. The spreading property of gene drives could be a source of great potential in areas as diverse as the control of disease vectors, invasive species, agricultural pests and predators of endangered species. However, the same property may make containment challenging and therefore may also pose novel environmental risks. The evaluation, distribution of risks and benefits and the fact that gene drives may be seen as a particularly profound interference with nature raises further novel ethical considerations.
CRISPR/Cas9 gene drive technology to control transmission of vector-borne parasitic infections
12386M. Nateghi Rostami, Parasite Immunology, preprint:e12762. 2020-06-04 18:10:02.
Gene drive is the process of copying of an endonuclease-containing cassette that leads to increased frequency of inheritance of the desired traits in a targeted population. CRISPR/Cas9 technology is advancing genetic manipulation of insects in the field of gene drive experiments. The CRISPR/Cas9 drive could be engineered for genetic manipulation of parasites and/or vectors for disease control. A number of promising CRISPR/Cas9-based gene drive strategies that interfere with parasite development or impairs the reproductive capability of the insect vector, have been proposed in the laboratory for blocking transmission of malaria and leishmaniasis. Still several technical and ethical challenges remain to be addressed, none appear insuperable in this field.
Can CRISPR gene drive work in pest and beneficial haplodiploid species?
12389J. Li, O. Aidlin Harari, A.-L. Doss, L. L. Walling, P. W. Atkinson, S. Morin and B. E. Tabashnik, Evolutionary Applications, 2020-06-03 18:14:33.
Gene drives based on CRISPR/Cas9 have the potential to reduce the enormous harm inflicted by crop pests and insect vectors of human disease, as well as to bolster valued species. In contrast with extensive empirical and theoretical studies in diploid organisms, little is known about CRISPR gene drive in haplodiploids, despite their immense global impacts as pollinators, pests, natural enemies of pests, and invasive species in native habitats. Here we analyze mathematical models demonstrating that, in principle, CRISPR homing gene drive can work in haplodiploids, as well as at sex-linked loci in diploids. However, relative to diploids, conditions favoring the spread of alleles deleterious to haplodiploid pests by CRISPR gene drive are narrower, the spread is slower, and resistance to the drive evolves faster. By contrast, the spread of alleles that impose little fitness cost or boost fitness was not greatly hindered in haplodiploids relative to diploids. Therefore, altering traits to minimize damage caused by harmful haplodiploids, such as interfering with transmission of plant pathogens, may be more likely to succeed than control efforts based on introducing traits that reduce pest fitness. Enhancing fitness of beneficial haplodiploids with CRISPR gene drive is also promising.
Islands as Laboratories: Indigenous Knowledge and Gene Drives in the Pacific
12391R. I. Taitingfong, Human Biology, 91:179-188. 2020-06-01 18:19:55.
This article argues that the genetic engineering technology known as gene drive must be evaluated in the context of the historic and ongoing impacts of settler colonialism and military experimentation on indigenous lands and peoples. After defining gene drive and previewing some of the key ethical issues related to its use, the author compares the language used to justify Cold War–era nuclear testing in the Pacific with contemporary scholarship framing islands as ideal test sites for gene drive–modified organisms. In both cases, perceptions of islands as remote and isolated are mobilized to warrant their treatment as sites of experimentation for emerging technologies. Though gene drive may offer valuable interventions into issues affecting island communities (e.g., vector-borne disease and invasive species management), proposals to conduct the first open trials of gene drive on islands are complicit in a long history of injustice that has treated islands (and their residents) as dispensable to the risks and unintended consequences associated with experimentation. This article contends that ethical gene drive research cannot be achieved without the inclusion of indigenous peoples as key stakeholders and provides three recommendations to guide community engagement involving indigenous communities: centering indigenous self-determination, replacing the deficit model of engagement with a truly participatory model, and integrating indigenous knowledge and values in the research and decision-making processes related to gene drive.
A Protamine Knockdown Mimics the Function of Sd in Drosophila melanogaster
12536L. F. Gingell and J. R. McLean, G3-Genes Genomes Genetics, 10:2111-2115. 2020-06-01 15:29:52.
Segregation Distorter (SD) is an autosomal meiotic drive system found worldwide in natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster. This gene complex induces the preferential and nearly exclusive transmission of the SD chromosome in SD/SD+ males. This selfish propagation occurs through the interplay of the Sd locus, its enhancers and the Rsp(s) locus during spermatid development. The key distorter locus, Sd, encodes a truncated but enzymatically active RanGAP (RanGTPase-activating protein), a key nuclear transport factor in the Ran signaling pathway. When encoded by Sd, RanGAP is mislocalized to the nucleus interior, which then traps Ran inside the nucleus and disrupts nuclear import. As a result of this aberrant nuclear transport, a process known as the histone-to-protamine transition that is required for proper spermatid condensation fails to occur in SD/SD+ males. In this process, sperm-specific protamine proteins enter the spermatid nucleus and replace the formerly chromatin-complexed histones. Previously, we have shown that mutations affecting nuclear import and export can enhance distortion in an SD background, thus verifying that a defect in nuclear transport is responsible for the unequal transmission of chromosomes. Herein, we show that specifically reducing protamines induces distortion in an SD background, verifying that protamines are transported via the RanGAP/GEF pathway and indicating that E(SD) plays a significant and unique role in the process of distortion
Engineered Gene Drives for Pest Management
25478G. Miglani, Biotechnology for Plant Disease Diagnosis and Management, 2020-06-01 09:06:32.
Genes in sexually reproducing organisms normally have, on average, a 50% chance of being inherited, but some genes have a higher chance of being inherited. These genes can increase in relative frequency in a population even if they reduce the odds that each organism will reproduce. Aided by technological advances, scientists are investigating how populations might be altered by adding, disrupting, or editing genes or suppressed by propagating traits that reduce reproductive capacity. Due to the discovery of gene-drive systems in insects and with the development of gene-drive technology using engineered site-specific nucleases, the last couple of years have seen a profound rise in excitement about the many possible uses of gene drive systems (GDSs). GDSs are capable of altering the traits of wild populations and associated ecosystems. A gene drive biases the transmission of a particular allele of a gene such that it is inherited at a greater frequency than by random assortment. A consequence of gene drives is an increased frequency of specific genetic elements or alleles and their accelerated spread throughout populations over successive generations. Here we will first describe the discovery, characteristics, types and mechanisms of GDSs. Next we will deal with development of gene-drive technology and its applications with special reference to their use in pest management and progresses that have so far been made to apply gene-drive systems in this area of research followed by limitations, safety and regulatory aspects of this technology. Finally, we will take up some key questions and future prospects of this important but still under-refinement technology.
Bioengineering horizon scan 2020
12449L. Kemp, L. Adam, C. R. Boehm, R. Breitling, R. Casagrande, M. Dando, A. Djikeng, N. G. Evans, R. Hammond, K. Hills, L. A. Holt, T. Kuiken, A. Markotić, P. Millett, J. A. Napier, C. Nelson, S. S. ÓhÉigeartaigh, A. Osbourn, M. J. Palmer, N. J. Patron, E. P, eLife, 9:e54489. 2020-05-29 20:28:54.
Horizon scanning is intended to identify the opportunities and threats associated with technological, regulatory and social change. In 2017 some of the present authors conducted a horizon scan for bioengineering (Wintle et al., 2017). Here we report the results of a new horizon scan that is based on inputs from a larger and more international group of 38 participants. The final list of 20 issues includes topics spanning from the political (the regulation of genomic data, increased philanthropic funding and malicious uses of neurochemicals) to the environmental (crops for changing climates and agricultural gene drives). The early identification of such issues is relevant to researchers, policy-makers and the wider public.
Simulation models from: Can CRISPER-mediated gene drive work in pest and beneficial haplodiploid species?
11968J. Li and B. Tabashnik, Dryad, 2020-05-26 18:17:03.
Gene drives based on CRISPR/Cas9 have the potential to reduce the enormous harm inflicted by crop pests and insect vectors of human disease, as well as to bolster valued species. In contrast with extensive empirical and theoretical studies in diploid organisms, little is known about CRISPR gene drive in haplodiploids, despite their immense global impacts as pollinators, pests, natural enemies of pests, and invasive species in native habitats. Here we analyze mathematical models demonstrating that, in principle, CRISPR homing gene drive can work in haplodiploids, as well as at sex-linked loci in diploids. However, relative to diploids, conditions favoring the spread of alleles deleterious to haplodiploid pests by CRISPR gene drive are narrower, the spread is slower, and resistance to the drive evolves faster. By contrast, the spread of alleles that impose little fitness cost or boost fitness was not greatly hindered in haplodiploids relative to diploids. Therefore, altering traits to minimize damage caused by harmful haplodiploids, such as interfering with transmission of plant pathogens, may be more likely to succeed than control efforts based on introducing traits that reduce pest fitness. Enhancing fitness of beneficial haplodiploids with CRISPR gene drive is also promising.
Genetic Biocontrol for Invasive Species
11964J. L. Teem, L. Alphey, S. Descamps, M. P. Edgington, O. Edwards, N. Gemmell, T. Harvey-Samuel, R. L. Melnick, K. P. Oh, A. J. Piaggio, J. R. Saah, D. Schill, P. Thomas, T. Smith and A. Roberts, Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 8:452. 2020-05-25 18:12:26.
Invasive species are increasingly affecting agriculture, food, fisheries, and forestry resources throughout the world. As a result of global trade, invasive species are often introduced into new environments where they become established and cause harm to human health, agriculture, and the environment. Prevention of new introductions is a high priority for addressing the harm caused by invasive species, but unfortunately efforts to prevent new introductions do not address the economic harm that is presently manifested where invasive species have already become established. Genetic biocontrol can be defined as the release of organisms with genetic methods designed to disrupt the reproduction of invasive populations. While these methods offer the potential to control or even eradicate invasive species, there is a need to ensure that genetic biocontrol methods can be deployed in a way that minimizes potential harm to the environment. This review provides an overview of the state of genetic biocontrol, focusing on several approaches that were the subject of presentations at the Genetic Biocontrol for Invasive Species Workshop in Tarragona, Spain, March 31st, 2019, a workshop sponsored by the OECD’s Co-operative Research Program on Biological Resource Management for Sustainable Agricultural Systems. The review considers four different approaches to genetic biocontrol for invasive species; sterile-release, YY Males, Trojan Female Technique, and gene drive. The different approaches will be compared with respect to the efficiency each affords as a genetic biocontrol tool, the practical utility and cost/benefits associated with implementation of the approach, and the regulatory considerations that will need to be addressed for each. The opinions expressed and arguments employed in this publication are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the OECD or of the governments of its Member countries.
RNAi: Applications in Vertebrate Pest Management
14854K. E. Horak, Trends in Biotechnology, 38:1200-1202. 2020-05-25 17:42:08.
the development of novel control technologies must be focused on species specificity and low environmental impact. Sequence-specific gene silencing via RNAi holds promise for effective management of pest wildlife.
The Y Chromosome as a Battleground for Intragenomic Conflict
11962D. Bachtrog, Trends in Genetics, 2020-05-21 18:10:11.
Recurrent sex chromosome drive can have profound ecological, evolutionary, and cellular impacts and account for unique features of sex chromosomes.
Gene Drives: Pursuing opportunities, minimizing risk
11966K. L. Warmbrod, A. Kobokovich, R. West, G. Ray, M. Trotochaud and M. Montague, Center for Health Security, 2020-05-18 18:14:50.
This study analyzed the current state of gene drive technologies, the ways in which they might be deployed in the field, and the state of regulatory policy governing their development.
Le forçage génétique (gène drive) et ses applications
18210V. Courtier-Orgogozo, Bulletin de l'Académie Vétérinaire de France, 172:94-98. 2020-05-18 15:11:30.
Gene drive is a new genetic engineering technology that has been developed over the past five years and that allows genetic modifications to spread rapidly in natural populations. Potential applications are numerous, for public health issues, agriculture and conservation biology. This article presents the current developments in this biotechnology, as well as the issues and risks associated with it.
Recessive Z-linked lethals and the retention of haplotype diversity in a captive butterfly population
11972I. J. Saccheri, S. Whiteford, C. J. Yung and A. E. van't Hof, Heredity, 2020-05-13 18:21:56.
Sex chromosomes are predicted to harbour elevated levels of sexually antagonistic variation due to asymmetries in the heritability of recessive traits in the homogametic versus heterogametic sex.
Modeling confinement and reversibility of threshold-dependent gene drive systems in spatially-explicit Aedes aegypti populations
11548H. M. Sánchez C, J. B. Bennett, S. L. Wu, G. Rašić, O. S. Akbari and J. M. Marshall, BMC Biology, 18:50. 2020-05-12 14:50:48.
Here, we model hypothetical releases of two recently engineered threshold-dependent gene drive systems—reciprocal chromosomal translocations and a form of toxin-antidote-based underdominance known as UDMEL—to explore their ability to be confined and remediated.
A male-biased sex-distorter gene drive for the human malaria vector Anopheles gambiae
11463A. Simoni, A. M. Hammond, A. K. Beaghton, R. Galizi, C. Taxiarchi, K. Kyrou, D. Meacci, M. Gribble, G. Morselli, A. Burt, T. Nolan and A. Crisanti, Nature Biotechnology, 2020-05-11 15:15:55.
We report a male-biased sex-distorter gene drive (SDGD) in the human malaria vector Anopheles gambiae.
Converting endogenous genes of the malaria mosquito into simple non-autonomous gene drives for population replacement
11465A. Hoermann, S. Tapanelli, P. Capriotti, E. K. G. Masters, T. Habtewold, G. K. Christophides and N. Windbichler, bioRxiv, 2020-05-10 15:19:12.
Here we explore how minimal genetic modifications of endogenous mosquito genes can convert them directly into non-autonomous gene drives without disrupting their expression.
Gene drive dynamics in natural populations: The importance of density-dependence, space and sex
11453S. Dhole, A. L. Lloyd and F. Gould, arXiv, arXiv:2005.01838. 2020-05-07 18:26:02.
Here we review how different forms of density-dependence, spatial heterogeneity and mating behaviors can impact the spread of self-sustaining gene drives. We highlight specific aspects of gene drive dynamics and the target populations that need further research.
Beyond limits – the pitfalls of global gene drives for environmental risk assessment in the European Union
11458M. Dolezel, C. Lüthi and H. Gaugitsch, BioRisk, 15:1-29. 2020-05-04 14:58:37.
We evaluate the novel features of GDOs and outline the resulting challenges for the environmental risk assessment.
The development of complex and controversial innovations. Genetically modified mosquitoes for malaria eradication
11431V. Cisnetto and J. Barlow, Research Policy, 49:103917. 2020-05-04 13:32:20.
e use a longitudinal process approach and qualitative system dynamics modelling to study the development of genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes for malaria eradication in an African country.
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