Gene Drive Technology in the News
New study highlights success of gene drive technology with preventing mosquito-spread diseases
Tags: Anopheles, Gene drive synthetic, Malaria, Population modification/replacementA. Meckler-Pacheco, The California Aggie, 2020.
For the past 30 years, researchers have studied the usage of gene drive technology to stop the spread of malaria. The idea is to create genetically engineered mosquitoes (GEM) that are either resistant to carrying the malaria parasite or that fail to reproduce, which would result ...
Hope rises as scientists eliminate malaria mosquitoes
Tags: Anopheles, Gene drive synthetic, Population suppression, Sex distorterA. Adeyemi, New Telegraph, 2020.
A team of researchers led by Imperial College London have spread a genetic modification that distorted the sex ratio through a population of caged Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes using ‘gene drive’ technology. According to the results of their study published yesterday in ...
Malaria mosquitoes eliminated in lab by creating all-male offsprings
Tags: Anopheles, Gene drive synthetic, Population suppression, Sex distorterAishwarya, Inshorts, 2020.
Imperial College London-led team used 'gene drive' technology to spread genetic modification that distorted sex ratio through caged breed of malaria mosquitoes. This caused mosquitoes to produce more male offspring, eventually leading to no female birth. The study suggested such ...
Researchers use “gene drive” technology to eliminate malaria mosquitoes in lab experiments
Tags: Anopheles, Gene drive synthetic, Population suppression, Sex distorterJ. Ives, News Medical Life Sciences, 2020.
A team led by Imperial College London spread a genetic modification that distorts the sex ratio through a population of caged Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes using 'gene drive' technology.
Genetically-manipulated male mosquitoes could eliminate females
Tags: Anopheles, Gene drive synthetic, Population suppression, Sex distorterB. Coxworth, New Atlas, 2020.
Several years ago, we heard how scientists were looking at eradicating malaria-carrying mosquitoes by making the females infertile. Now they're going a step further, by eliminating the females altogether.
Researchers discover way to eliminate malaria carrying mosquitoes
Tags: Anopheles, Gene drive synthetic, Population suppression, Sex distorterS. Digon, International Business Times, 2020.
Researchers from the Imperial College London have come up with a genetic modification that will pave the way for the elimination of malaria mosquitoes. Scientists say that the alteration distorts the sex ratio of caged Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes using what they call a ‘gene ...
Public opinion on gene editing
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, Stakeholder engagementP. Thomas, The Ecologist, 2020.
What does the public think of genetic engineering in food and farming? Is there more acceptance, or less, these days? Have the issues changed over time, or is it just more of the same? How well informed do you believe you are? Beyond GM like you to participate in our survey to ...
The malaria mosquito is eliminated in the lab by creating a population of all males
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, Population suppression, Sex distorterNewsDesk, Instant, 2020.
A team led by Imperial College London disseminates genetic modification that distorts the sex ratio through the Anopheles gambiae mosquito population that is locked up using ‘gene drive’ technology.
Malaria mosquitoes eliminated in lab by creating all male populations
Tags: Anopheles, CRISPR, Gene drive mechanisms, Gene drive synthetic, Sex distorterH. Dunning, Imperial College London, 2020.
A team led by Imperial College London spread a genetic modification that distorts the sex ratio through a population of caged Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes using ‘gene drive’ technology.
EPA Approves Genetically Modified Mosquito Trial For Florida Keys
Tags: Genetically modified mosquitoes, North America, Oxitec, Regulation, Sterile insect technique (SIT)Nancy Klingener, WLRN, 2020.
A plan to test genetically modified mosquitoes in the Florida Keys has received approval from the federal government.
The EU not ready for the release of Gene drive organisms into the environment.
Tags: Biodiversity/Conservation, Europe, Gene drive synthetic, Policy, Regulation, Risk assessmentPensoft Publishers, ScienceDaily, 2020.
In their study, published in the open-access journal BioRisk, an international group of scientists led by Marion Dolezel from the Environment Agency Austria, discuss the potential risks and impacts on the environment.
Mutant mosquitoes one step closer to release in Florida, Texas this summer. Why?
Tags: Genetic biocontrol, Genetically modified mosquitoes, North America, Oxitec, Sterile insect technique (SIT)K. Camero, The Charlotte Observer, 2020.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved an experimental use permit for the British biotech company Oxitec to test the modified mosquitoes in the U.S. for the first time, according to a statement from the agency
US EPA OKs release of GM mosquitoes
Tags: Genetic biocontrol, North America, Oxitec, Sterile insect technique (SIT)A. Beer, Agrow Agribusiness, 2020.
he US EPA has granted an experimental use permit to US synthetic biology company Intrexon’s UK subsidiary, Oxitec, to test its genetically modified OX5034 Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.
Genetically Engineered Male Mosquitos to be Released in Florida and Other Parts of US to Curb Zika and Dengue Spread
Tags: Genetic biocontrol, Genetically modified mosquitoes, North America, Oxitec, Sterile insect technique (SIT)Staff Reporter, The Science Times, 2020.
The Environmental Protection Agency has recently approved a new and controversial field test aimed at reducing their population.
Swarms of genetically modified mosquitoes could soon be descending on Florida
Tags: Field trials, Genetic biocontrol, Genetically modified mosquitoes, North America, OxitecA. J. Dellinger, Mic, 2020.
Mosquitoes are a pain in the ass, so much so that the Environmental Protection Agency has approved a new and controversial field test aimed at curbing their population.
EPA Grants First Permit to Test Genetically Modified Mosquitoes
Tags: Aedes, Genetically modified mosquitoes, Oxitec, Policy, Risk assessmentAdam Allington, Bloomberg Law, 2020.
British biotech company Oxitec Ltd was granted an experimental use permit to release a genetically engineered type of the mosquito species Aedes aegypti, which is a known vector of Zika virus and viruses that cause yellow fever and dengue fever, the Environmental Protection ...
EFSA discusses risk assessment of gene drives
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, Policy, Regulation, Risk assessmentC. Then, Testbiotech, 2020.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) carried out a public consultation on guidance for the risk assessment of so-called gene drives at the request of the EU Commission. At the same time, a new Testbiotech scientific paper was accepted after peer review. The paper shows that ...
GeneTip project results published in full
Tags: Gene drive syntheticC. Then, Testbiotech, 2020.
The GeneTip research project was a joint enterprise carried out from 2017 until 2019 by the Universities of Bremen and Vechta, the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna and Testbiotech, Munich. The researchers focused on risks associated with the spread of ...
Pest control with genetically modified insects
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, Genetic biocontrol, Risk and safetymyScience, myScience, 2020.
To control pests without pesticides, genetically modified organisms of the same species could be used. The latter carry a gene that is passed on with above-average frequency via sexual reproduction. This gene possesses traits that directly weaken the pest, or prevent pathogens ...
Can we kill the dreaded mosquito? Do we even want to?
Tags: Dengue, Gene drive synthetic, Genetic biocontrol, Incompatible insect technique, Malaria, Mosquitoes, Sterile insect technique (SIT), WolbachiaStacey McKenna, Sierra, 2020.
As a major vector for disease, the mosquito has harmed more human beings than just about any other animal, and a changing climate is only boosting those numbers. As the range of disease-carrying species of mosquitoes expands, so does their ability to transmit the parasites and ...
Gene drives as a gene modification tool. A scientific overview.
Tags: Gene drive syntheticAshan Ali, TechnologyTimes, 2020.
We have heard a lot of genes and chromosomes. But we have not heard about gene drives. In this article, we are going to get an overview of gene drives. Gene Drive is basically a genetic engineering technique that helps in the accumulation and propagation of a particular set of ...
Controversial ‘gene drive’ could disarm deadly wheat pathogen
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, Yeast and FungiElizabeth Pennisi, Science, 2020.
The Fusarium fungus is the bane of every wheat farmer’s existence. Causing wheat scab—also known as head blight—it decimates harvests and contaminates grains with a toxin harmful to people and animals. Now, Australian researchers have come up with a new strategy to combat ...
Genetic variation not an obstacle to gene drive strategy to control mosquitoes
Tags: Gene drive mechanisms, Gene drive syntheticUniversity of California Davis, ScienceDaily, 2020.
New research from entomologists at UC Davis clears a potential obstacle to using CRISPR-Cas9 "gene drive" technology to control mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever and Zika.
Gene editing and the war against malaria
Tags: Africa, Gene drive synthetic, Malaria, Population modification/replacement, Population suppressionE. Bier and E. Sobber, American Scientist, 102:162. 2020.
Malaria is a devastating disease transmitted from person to person by mosquitoes. It kills more than 400,000 people per year, more than half of those deaths being children 5 years old or younger. CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) is a new ...
Gene editing could fight malaria by causing only male mosquitos to be born
Tags: Anopheles, Gene drive synthetic, Population suppression, Sex distorterL. Dormehl, Digital Trends, 2020.
What’s the theoretically easiest way to ensure that a population of mosquitos is not able to sustain itself through breeding? Make sure that there aren’t enough females, of course. That’s the exploratory approach being pioneered by researchers at the U.K.’s Imperial ...
Gene drives could stop the world’s oldest problems
Tags: Gene drive syntheticChloe Willianms, Inverse, 2020.
Kevin Esvelt worries more than the average scientist. It’s a consequence of having invented a technology powerful enough to alter an entire species. In 2013, Esvelt came up with the concept of CRISPR-based gene drive. The technology uses CRISPR, a gene editing tool, to hack ...
‘Gene Drive’ to curb malaria raises ethical questions as well
Tags: Ethics, Gene drive synthetic, MosquitoesGyanedra Nath Mitra, The Pioneer, 2020.
A new technology ‘Gene Drive’ for mosquito control is currently confined to the laboratory since it raises an ethical question, if such a technology could in future be misused to the detriment of humanity.
Should the humans be allowed to genetically modify insects?
Tags: Genetic engineering, MosquitoesOlivia Abbe, NYK Daily, 2020.
Genetic engineering, also called Genetic modification or Genetic manipulation, is the direct manipulation of an organism’s genes using biotechnology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including the transfer of genes within and across ...
The risks of using gene drives to get rid of ‘pesky species’
Tags: Biodiversity/Conservation, Gene drive syntheticR. Lewis, Genetic Literacy Project, 2020.
The mammals of New Zealand have long posed a threat to native species. The Predator Free 2050 program is an effort to rid the island of these invaders – including using the tools of CRISPR-based genome editing to create a gene drive to jumpstart extinctions. It’s a very ...
NZ’s great pest-free quest: can we get there?
Tags: Biodiversity/Conservation, Gene drive synthetic, OceaniaJ. Morton, NZ Herald, 2020.
The Government has unveiled how it plans to rid New Zealand of possums, rats and stoats by 2050 – but there's no specific mention of contentious gene-editing technology that many scientists say will be needed. The Predator Free 2050 strategy, being formally launched this ...
What squirrels can teach us about why, when, and how to use gene drives
Tags: Biodiversity/Conservation, Gene drive synthetic, Invasive species, RodentsRebecca Nesbit, synbiobeta, 2020.
As the last ice age drew to a close, red squirrels made Britain their home. They adapted to a changing landscape and thrived as the UK’s only squirrel species. That all changed in 1876 when grey squirrels were introduced to England from North America as an ornamental species in ...
Risk assessment challenges of synthetic gene drive organisms
Tags: Biodiversity/Conservation, Gene drive synthetic, Policy, Regulation, Risk and safetyE. Sirinathsinghji, TWN Biosafety Briefing, 2020.
Understanding the Science of Gene Drive and the Potential for an Improved Crop Pest Control System in Nigeria
Tags: Africa, Agriculture, Gene drive synthetic, Genetic biocontrol, Pest managementA. Isah and R. S. M. Gidado, OFAB Nigeria, 2020.
Several studies have shown that the Cas9-mediated gene drive technology is cheaper and will be easily affordable by the efficient Nigerian scientists to explore. The application of the gene drive technologies have many more controls over several other devastating insects in ...
Digital droplet PCR and IDAA for the detection of CRISPR indel edits in the malaria species Anopheles stephensi
R. R. Carballar-Lejarazu, A. Kelsey, T. B. Pham, E. P. Bennett and A. A. James-Lejarazu, A. Kelsey, T. B. Pham, E. P. Bennett and A. A. James, Biotechniques, 68:172-179. 2020.CRISPR/Cas9 technology is a powerful tool for the design of gene-drive systems to control and/or modify mosquito vector populations; however, CRISPR/Cas9-mediated nonhomologous end joining mutations can have an important impact on generating alleles resistant to the drive and ...
Genetically engineered moths may save kale chips
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, Genetic biocontrol, Moths, Oxitec, Self limiting, Sterile insect technique (SIT)C. Poku, BIOtechNOW, 2020.
Sea salt kale chips, bacon brussels sprouts, and buffalo cauliflower wings are under threat. Environmental activists will have you believe the biggest threat to our food system is pesticides. That’s not true, in fact, it’s insects—the very reason most pesticides are ...
Genetically engineered moths have been released into the wild to wipe out pests
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, Genetic biocontrol, Moths, Oxitec, Self limiting, Sterile insect technique (SIT)K. Rogers, CNN, 2020.
Genetically modified diamondback moths designed to wipe out wild pest populations were released in fields for the first time in New York state. Diamondback moths are migratory pests found in the Americas, Europe, New Zealand and Southeast Asia, but especially in areas where ...
Engineering Bugs, Resurrecting Species: The Wild World of Synthetic Biology for Conservation
Tags: Biodiversity/Conservation, Dengue, Gene drive synthetic, Gene editing, MalariaP. Rejcek, Singularity Hub, 2020.
Imagine a world where a mosquito bite is just an itchy annoyance. No malaria. No dengue fever. Last month, scientists announced they had taken one more step toward that vision. A paper in the journal PLOS Pathogens described how they synthetically engineered mosquitoes to stop ...
Genetically modified butterflies could herald a new era in crop protection
Tags: Genetic biocontrol, Moths, Oxitec, Sterile insect technique (SIT)Science News,, Science News, 2020.
New study highlights successful test including field release of genetically modified butterflies. Scientists believe this success could pave the way for an effective and sustainable approach to pest control in crops. The butterfly in question is the cruciferous moth ( Plutella ...
World’s First Genetically Modified Moths Released to Nature
Tags: Genetic biocontrol, Moths, Oxitec, Sterile insect technique (SIT)M. Cage, SOMAG News, 2020.
There are many insect species that harm agricultural products in the world. One of them is diamond moths. Genetically modified moths were used to control these moths, which are harmful to many plants. Plutella xylostella or also known as diamond moths; One of the most harmful ...
GMO diamondback moth shows promise as sustainable pest control tool in first ever open-field release
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, Genetic biocontrol, Moths, Oxitec, Self limiting, Sterile insect technique (SIT)Cornell University, Genetic Literacy Project, 2020.
A newly published study reports a successful, first-ever open-field release of a self-limiting, genetically engineered diamondback moth, stating that it paves the way for an effective and sustainable approach to pest control. The diamondback moth, also known as Plutella ...
Scientists have released genetically modified moths
Tags: Genetic biocontrol, Moths, Oxitec, Sterile insect technique (SIT)N. Kumar, The Times Hub, 2020.
In the US, the researchers decided to test emerging from genetic modification Diamondback moth, placing it in field conditions. The work was conducted by experts from new York, representing Cornell University.
GM Insects on the Horizon
Tags: Genetic biocontrol, Moths, Oxitec, Sterile insect technique (SIT)E. Unglesbee, Progressive Farmer, 2020.
Diamondback moths would do well to be wary of potential mates in the years to come. Scientists recently completed the first successful field testing of a genetically modified (GM) "self-limiting" insect in the U.S., using this species. When the GM male diamondback moths are ...
Male moths genetically modified to kill females released in the wild
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, Genetic biocontrol, Moths, Oxitec, Self limiting, Sterile insect technique (SIT)M. Le Page, New Scientist, 2020.
Genetically modified male diamondback moths designed to wipe out pest populations have been released in New York state. The field trial shows that these GM moths, whose female offspring die soon after hatching, could help control this major crop pest. Oxitec, the British ...
Can CRISPR Save Tufty Fluffytail?
Tags: Biodiversity/Conservation, Gene drive synthetic, RodentsL. Tracey, JSTOR Daily, 2020.
The native red squirrel population in the UK has been decimated by the encroachment of its American cousin, an invasive species. Could a “gene drive” hel
Mosquitoes Genetically Engineered To Resist Dengue Fever
Tags: Biodiversity/Conservation, Gene drive synthetic, RodentsR. Bailey, reason, 2020.
Gene drives could spread this beneficial trait through wild mosquito populations.
Synthetically engineered mosquitos could neutralize dengue virus infection
Tags: Aedes, Dengue, Gene drive synthetic, Population modification/replacementL. Woolfe, Biotechniques, 2020.
Dengue virus infection can be severe and life threatening. New research has developed an improved approach to controlling this deadly infection.
Mosquitoes genetically modified to combat dengue
Tags: Aedes, Dengue, Gene drive synthetic, Population modification/replacementDowntoearth, Down To Earth, 2020.
For the first time mosquitoes have been engineered to fight all 4 known types of dengue
Genetically Modified Mosquitos Neutralize Dengue Virus
Tags: Aedes, Dengue, Gene drive synthetic, Population modification/replacementN. P. Dyal, Infectious Disease Advisor, 2020.
Researchers at the University of California San Diego have identified a target gene in mosquitos that renders the insects completely refractory to all 4 serotypes of the dengue virus and thus, incapable of transmitting the virus to humans, according to study results published in ...
Genetically modified mosquitoes resist all dengue viruses, researchers find
Tags: Aedes, Dengue, Gene drive synthetic, Population modification/replacementB. Burton, C|NET, 2020.
This new kind of mosquito can't spread any form of the deadly disease.
Genetically engineered mosquitoes resist spreading any form of dengue
Tags: Aedes, Dengue, Gene drive synthetic, Population modification/replacementK. Servick, Science, 2020.
Recover from dengue once, and you’re not necessarily free and clear. The mosquito-borne disease marked by fever, rash, and debilitating pain results from any of four genetically distinct versions of the dengue virus. Previously infected people who get hit with a second of these ...
