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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The sterile male release approach as a method to control invasive amphibian populations: a preliminary study on Lithobates catesbeianus

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S. Descamps and A. De Vocht,  Management of Biological Invasions,  8:361-370. 2017.
Widespread populations of the invasive species Lithobates catesbeianus (American bullfrog) are present in different parts of the world and are difficult to control. This study investigated the possibility to sterilize male individuals of this species in order to use the sterile ...

Using CRISPR-based gene drive for agriculture pest control

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V. Courtier-Orgogozo, B. Morizot and C. Boëte,  EMBO Reports,  18:1481. 2017.
The authors respond to comments to their publication 10.15252/embr.201744205

The optimal implementation of the Trojan Y chromosome eradication strategy of invasive species

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M. R. Kelly and X. Y. Wang,  Journal of Biological Systems,  25:399-418. 2017.
Invasive aquatic species continue to be a persistent problem around the world. The Trojan Y Chromosome (TYC) eradication strategy has recently been developed to help fight the problem in aquatic systems by targeting only the invasive species, sparing native marine stock. It ...

Illinois study advances possibility of genetic control for major agricultural weeds

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L. Quinn,  ACES News,  2017.
Waterhemp and Palmer amaranth, two aggressive weeds that threaten the food supply in North America, are increasingly hard to kill with commercially available herbicides. A novel approach known as genetic control could one day reduce the need for these chemicals. Now, scientists ...

Current vector control challenges in the fight against malaria

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G. Benelli and J. C. Beier,  Acta Tropica,  174:91-96. 2017.
The majority of National Malaria Control Programs in Africa still rely on indoor residual spraying (IRS) and long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs). These methods reduce malaria incidence but generally have little impact on malaria prevalence. In addition to outdoor transmission, ...

The IAEA and Food – Tsetse Fly Eradication – Senegal

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International Atomic Energy Agency,  IAEA/FAO,  2017.
Senegal has successfully integrated the Sterile Insect Technique into its tsetse fly control project in the Niayes region. This nuclear technique suppresses or even eradicates insect pest by using radiation to sterilize primarily males. The disease that tsetse flies transmit can ...

Trends in the development of mammalian pest control technology in New Zealand

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C. T. Eason, L. Shapiro, S. Ogilvie, C. King and M. Clout,  New Zealand Journal of Zoology,  44:267-304. 2017.
The use of new toxins with advantages in specific settings should be complemented by improvements in resetting trap technology, barrier approaches, and novel biocontrol and genetic concepts. Sodium fluoroacetate (1080) and other important tools have been retained; we have the ...

A maternal-effect selfish genetic element in Caenorhabditis elegans

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E. Ben-David, A. Burga and L. Kruglyak,  Science,  356:1051. 2017.
We discovered a selfish element causing embryonic lethality in crosses between wild strains of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.

Poisons, antidotes, and selfish genes

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N. Phadnis,  Science,  356:1013. 2017.
On page1051 of this issue, BenDavid et al . (3) chase down a serendipitous observation of an anomaly in genetic crosses to unmask a toxin-antidote type of selfish system in worms.

Agricultural pest control with CRISPR-based gene drive: time for public debate

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V. Courtier-Orgogozo, B. Morizot and C. Boëte,  EMBO Reports,  18:878-880. 2017.
Gene drive technology to control disease vectors or pests has great potential for addressing humanitarian and public health problems. Its application for pest control in agriculture, however, raises important environmental, social and ethical issues.

A Wolbachia deubiquitylating enzyme induces cytoplasmic incompatibility

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Beckmann, J. F., J. A. Ronau and M. Hochstrasser,  Nature Microbiology,  2:17007. 2017.
Wolbachia are obligate intracellular bacteria1 that infect arthropods, including approximately two-thirds of insect species2. Wolbachia manipulate insect reproduction by enhancing their inheritance through the female germline. The most common alteration is cytoplasmic ...

Daisyfield gene drive systems harness repeated genomic elements as a generational clock to limit spread

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J. Min, C. Noble, D. Najjar and K. M. Esvelt,  bioRxiv,  104877. 2017.
Here we describe a novel form of gene drive based on the introduction of multiple copies of an engineered ‘daisy’ sequence into repeated elements of the genome. Each introduced copy encodes guide RNAs that target one or more engineered loci carrying the CRISPR nuclease gene ...

Dodging silver bullets: good CRISPR gene-drive design is critical for eradicating exotic vertebrates

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Prowse, TAAC, Phillip; Ross, Joshua V.; Pfitzner, Chandran; Wittmann, Talia A.; Thomas, Paul,  Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences,  284:20170799. 2017.
Self-replicating gene drives that can spread deleterious alleles through animal populations have been promoted as a much needed but controversial ‘silver bullet’ for controlling invasive alien species. Homing-based drives comprise an endonuclease and a guide RNA (gRNA) that ...

How driving endonuclease genes can be used to combat pests and disease vectors

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Godfray, HCJN, A.; Burt, A.,  BMC Biology,  15:81. 2017.
Driving endonuclease genes (DEGs) spread through a population by a non-Mendelian mechanism. In a heterozygote, the protein encoded by a DEG causes a double-strand break in the homologous chromosome opposite to where its gene is inserted and when the break is repaired using the ...

Is it time for synthetic biodiversity conservation?

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Piaggio, AJS, G.; Seddon, P. J.; Alphey, L.; Bennett, E. L.; Carlson, R. H.; Friedman, R. M.; Kanavy, D.; Phelan, R.; Redford, K. H.; Rosales, M.; Slobodian, L.; Wheeler, K.,  Trends in Ecology & Evolution,  32:97-107. 2017.
Evidence indicates that, despite some critical successes, current conservation approaches are not slowing the overall rate of biodiversity loss. The field of synthetic biology, which is capable of altering natural genomes with extremely precise editing, might offer the potential ...

Precaution: Open gene drive research

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Esvelt, KM,  Science,  355:589-590. 2017.
IN THEIR POLICY Forum “Precaution and governance of emerging technologies” (11 November 2016, p. 710), G. E. Kaebnick and colleagues convincingly assert that precaution is consistent with support for science. However, they overlook one way to improve safety while hastening ...

Ethical implications of fighting malaria with CRISPR/Cas9

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Patrão Neves, MD, Christiane,  BMJ Global Health,  2:e000396. 2017.
Genome editing is a new, cheap and versatile technique which has great promise to combat vector-borne diseases. The current ethical debate worldwide is mainly concentrating on the dangers of germline intervention and less so on the potential for fighting vector-borne diseases. ; ...

Principles for gene drive research

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Emerson, CJ, Stephanie; Littler, Katherine; Randazzo, Filippo,  Science,  358:1135. 2017.
The recent outbreak of Zika virus in the Americas renewed attention on the importance of vector-control strategies to fight the many vector-borne diseases that continue to inflict suffering around the world. In 2015, there were ?212 million infections and a death every minute ...

Conditions for success of engineered underdominance gene drive systems

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Edgington, MPA, L. S.,  Journal of Theoretical Biology,  430:128-140. 2017.
Engineered underdominance is one of a number of different gene drive strategies that have been proposed for the genetic control of insect vectors of disease. Here we model a two-locus engineered underdominance based gene drive system that is based on the concept of mutually ...

wtf genes are prolific dual poison-antidote meiotic drivers

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Nuckolls, NLN, M. A. B.; Eickbush, M. T.; Young, J. M.; Lange, J. J.; Yu, J. S.; Smith, G. R.; Jaspersen, S. L.; Malik, H. S.; Zanders, S. E.,  eLife,  6:e26033. 2017.
Meiotic drivers are selfish genes that bias their transmission into gametes, defying Mendelian inheritance. Despite the significant impact of these genomic parasites on evolution and infertility, few meiotic drive loci have been identified or mechanistically characterized. Here, ...

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