Keywords: Genetic engineering
Gene Drives: A Powerful and Controversial Genetic Technology
Tags: Arbovirus, Genetic engineering, Invasive speciesBiomedical and Life Sciences Simplified, YouTube, 2024.
An egg-sabotaging mechanism drives non-Mendelian transmission in mice
Tags: Genetic engineering, Rodents, Selfish genetic elementsFrances E. Clark, Naomi L. Greenberg, Duilio M.Z.A. Silva, et al, Current Biology, 2024.
Selfish genetic elements drive in meiosis to distort their transmission ratio and increase their representation in gametes, violating Mendel’s law of segregation. The two established paradigms for meiotic drive, gamete killing and biased segregation, are fundamentally ...
Germline Cas9 promoters with improved performance for homing gene drive
Tags: CRISPR, Genetic engineeringDu, J., Chen, W., Jia, X. et al., Nature Communications, 15:4560. 2024.
Gene drive systems could be a viable strategy to prevent pathogen transmission or suppress vector populations by propagating drive alleles with super-Mendelian inheritance. CRISPR-based homing gene drives convert wild type alleles into drive alleles in heterozygotes with Cas9 and ...
CRISPR-mediated germline mutagenesis for genetic sterilization of Anopheles gambiae males
Tags: Anopheles, Genetic engineering, MalariaSmidler, A.L., Marrogi, E., Kauffman, J. et al., Scientific Reports, 14. 2024.
Rapid spread of insecticide resistance among anopheline mosquitoes threatens malaria elimination efforts, necessitating development of alternative vector control technologies. Sterile insect technique (SIT) has been successfully implemented in multiple insect pests to suppress ...
Gene drive and genetic sex conversion in the global agricultural pest Ceratitis capitata
Tags: Gene drive, Genetic engineering, Synthetic biologyMeccariello, A., Hou, S., Davydova, S. et al., Nature Communications, 15:372. 2024.
Homing-based gene drives are recently proposed interventions promising the area-wide, species-specific genetic control of harmful insect populations. Here we characterise a first set of gene drives in a tephritid agricultural pest species, the Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis ...
Viruses that ‘infect’ viruses: Cas12f1 and Cas9 gene drive in HSV1
Tags: Arbovirus, CRISPR, Gene drive, Genetic engineeringHongsheng Dai, Qiaorui Yao, Zhuangjie Lin, Keyuan Lai, Xianyin Zeng, Guangxiong Lei, Tongwen Zhang, bioRxiv, 2023.
Cas9-based synthetic gene drives constitute some minimal elements capable of editing DNA with sequence specificity. However, they face high resistance rate and mitigation strategies developed so far are difficult to implement. Here, we engineered herpes simplex virus type 1 ...
Homing-based gene drives can introgress rapidly into local genetic backgrounds with minimal chromosomal conversion in Anopheles gambiae
Tags: Gene editing, Genetic engineeringTony Nolan, Poppy Pescod, Giulia Bevivino et al., Research Square, 2023.
CRISPR-Cas9 gene drive control strategies use a homing selfish genetic element which induces a double-stranded break at the target site and is copied into the opposing chromosome, breaking an essential gene and ensuring super-Mendelian inheritance. During the copying process SNPs ...
Repeat mediated excision of gene drive elements for restoring wild-type populations
Tags: Gene drive, Genetic engineeringPratima R Chennuri, Josef Zapletal, Raquel D Monfardini, Martial Loth Ndeffo-Mbah, Zach N Adelman, Kevin M Myles, bioRxiv, 2023.
We demonstrate here that single strand annealing (SSA) repair can be co-opted for the precise autocatalytic excision of a drive element. Although SSA is not the predominant form of DNA repair in eukaryotic organisms, we increased the likelihood of its use by engineering direct ...
Engineering mice for female-biased progeny without impacting genetic integrity and litter size
Tags: Genetic engineeringIdo Yosef, Tridib Mahata, Yuhuang Chen, Hadas Bar-Joseph, Ruth Shalgi, Ariel Munitz, Motti Gerlic, Udi Qimron, bioRxiv, 2023.
Generating mammalian gametes with a skewed sex ratio has thus far eluded empirical confirmation. The utilization of such genetically engineered organisms would offer the potential to curtail the necessity for culling animals of undesirable sex, mitigate resource wastage, and ...
Current Status of the Main Olive Pests: Useful Integrated Pest Management Strategies and Genetic Tools
Tags: Biological control, Gene drive, Genetic biocontrol, Genetic engineering, Sterile insect technique (SIT)E. Lantero, B. Matallanas and C. Callejas, Applied Sciences, 13. 2023.
Mediterranean olive cultivation faces challenges in the global environmental change context. Pests and diseases caused by arthropods such as Bactrocera oleae, Prays oleae, and certain vectors of Xylella fastidiosa are expected to increase and spread in part due to this global ...
Mosquito gene targeted RNAi studies for vector control
Tags: Genetic biocontrol, Genetic engineering, Mosquitoes, Population modification/replacement, Population suppressionM. Yadav, N. Dahiya and N. Sehrawat, Functional and Integrative Genomics, 23:180. 2023.
Vector-borne diseases are serious public health concern. Mosquito is one of the major vectors responsible for the transmission of a number of diseases like malaria, Zika, chikungunya, dengue, West Nile fever, Japanese encephalitis, St. Louis encephalitis, and yellow fever. ...
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 Drive: Past, Present and Future Roads to Vertebrate Biocontrol
Tags: CRISPR, Gene drive, Gene drive synthetic, Genetic biocontrol, Genetic engineeringG. R. McFarlane, C. B. A. Whitelaw and S. G. Lillico, Applied Biosciences, 2:52-70. 2023.
Scientists have long sought a technology to humanely control populations of damaging invasive pests in a species-specific manner. Gene drive technology could see this become a reality. This review charts the twists and turns on the road to developing gene drives in vertebrates. ...
Meiotic transmission patterns of additional genomic elements in Brachionus asplanchnoidis, a rotifer with intraspecific genome size variation
Tags: Genetic engineering, Selfish genetic elements, Transmission distortionJ. Blommaert and C.-P. Stelzer, Scientific Reports, 12:20900. 2022.
Intraspecific genome size (GS) variation in Eukaryotes is often mediated by additional, nonessential genomic elements. Physically, such additional elements may be represented by supernumerary (B-)chromosomes or by large heterozygous insertions into the regular chromosome set. ...
GMOs in Africa: Status, adoption and public acceptance
Tags: Africa, Genetic engineering, Policy, Regulation, Risk and safetyL. A. Gbadegesin, E. A. Ayeni, C. K. Tettey, V. A. Uyanga, O. O. Aluko, J. K. Ahiakpa, C. O. Okoye, J. I. Mbadianya, M. A. Adekoya, R. O. Aminu, F. P. Oyawole and P. Odufuwa, Food Control, 141:109193. 2022.
Globally, genetically modified (GM) crops contribute to food security by increasing crop yield, quality and shelf-life. The commercialisation and adoption of GM crops in many developed countries raised hope of improving food security and livelihood. Africa, a developing continent ...
Cross-kingdom RNAi to enhance the efficacy of insect pathogens
Tags: Genetic biocontrol, Genetic engineering, MosquitoesS. Asgari, Trends in Parasitology, 2022.
Insect pathogens play significant roles in the biocontrol of medical and agricultural pests. Cui et al. demonstrated that genetically modified (GM) fungi expressing host mosquito miRNAs could enhance the efficacy of the fungus by suppressing the host immune response. This opens ...
Meiotic defects in human oocytes: Potential causes and clinical implications
Tags: Genetic engineering, Other mammals, Transmission distortionT. Wu, H. Gu, Y. Luo, L. Wang and Q. Sang, BioEssays, 2022.
Meiotic defects cause abnormal chromosome segregation leading to aneuploidy in mammalian oocytes. Chromosome segregation is particularly error-prone in human oocytes, but the mechanisms behind such errors remain unclear. To explain the frequent chromosome segregation errors, ...
Engineering RNA Interference-Based Dengue Virus Resistance in the Mosquito Vector Aedes aegypti: The Current Status and Future Directions
Tags: Aedes, Dengue, Genetic biocontrol, Genetic engineeringS. D. Denipitiyage, Y. I. N. S. Gunawardene, Z. Federico and R. S. Dassanayake, Genetically Modified and other Innovative Vector Control Technologies, 2021.
Dengue is an acute, febrile disease caused by the dengue viruses (DENV) comprising four serotypes and transmitted by the mosquito vector Ae. aegypti. DENV are single-stranded, positive-sense RNA viruses of the family Flaviviridae. Dengue is declared as a current significant ...
Empowering Indigenous Knowledge in Deliberations on Gene Editing in the Wild
Tags: Ethics, Gene drive, Genetic engineering, Stakeholder engagementR. Taitingfong and A. Ullah, Hastings Center Report, 51 Suppl 2:S74-s84. 2021.
Proposals to release genetically engineered organisms in the wild raise complex ethical issues related to their safe and equitable implementation. While there is broad agreement that community and public engagement is vital to decision-making in this context, more discussion is ...
Gene drive and RNAi technologies: a bio-cultural review of next-generation tools for pest wasp management in New Zealand
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, Genetic engineering, Oceania, Policy, Population suppression, Regulation, Stakeholder engagementS. Palmer, P. K. Dearden, O. R. Mercier, A. King-Hunt and P. J. Lester, Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 1-18. 2021.
There is a global need for novel, next-generation technologies and techniques to manage pest species. We review work on potential step-changing technologies for large landscape (>1000 hectares) pest management of social Vespula wasps. We also review M?ori perspectives on these ...
Persistent Spodoptera frugiperda rhabdovirus infection in Sf9 cells is not restricted by Wolbachia wMelPop-CLA and wAlbB strains and is targeted by the RNAi machinery
Tags: Genetic engineering, Moths, WolbachiaR. Parry, H. de Malmanche and S. Asgari, Virology, 563:82-87. 2021.
The endosymbiotic bacterium Wolbachia pipientis confers RNA virus refractoriness in Drosophila and Aedes mosquitoes. Questions remain about the Wolbachia-virus restriction phenotype and how extensive this phenomenon may be within other arthropods. Here, we generated two ...
New Pesticides Will Modify Insect Genes: What Could Go Wrong?
Tags: Gene editing, Genetic biocontrol, Genetic engineeringFood Tank, EcoWatch, 2021.
Farmers across the U.S. could soon fill their pesticide spray tanks with a substance known as interfering RNA (RNAi). (RNA is a molecule similar to DNA.) Insects that are exposed to it — either by eating crops sprayed with the substance or by landing on a crop and absorbing it ...
RNAi-based products: A sustainable alternative to hazardous pesticides
Tags: Gene editing, Genetic biocontrol, Genetic engineering, Pest management, Policy, Regulation, Risk and safetyGhent University, Phys Org, 2021.
RNAi-based biocontrol is a great alternative to hazardous pesticides and can contribute towards reversing the alarming decline in farmland birds and beneficial insects (especially pollinating ones). RNAi is a well-known natural biological process in most
The Antiviral Small-Interfering RNA Pathway Induces Zika Virus Resistance in Transgenic Aedes aegypti
Tags: Aedes, Arbovirus, CRISPR, Gene drive, Gene editing, Genetic engineering, Vector controlA. E. Williams, I. Sanchez-Vargas, W. R. Reid, J. Y. Lin, A. W. E. Franz and K. E. Olson, Viruses, 12:18. 2020.
We used CRISPR/Cas9 to re-target a previously characterized locus (Chr2:321382225) and engineered mosquitoes expressing an inverted repeat (IR) dsRNA against the NS3/4A region of the ZIKV genome. Small RNA analysis revealed that the IR effector triggered the mosquito's siRNA ...
Interdisciplinary development of a standardized introduction to gene drives for lay audiences
Tags: Field trials, Gene drive synthetic, Genetic engineering, Policy, Stakeholder engagement, Vector controlC. E. Schairer, C. Triplett, A. Buchman, O. S. Akbari and C. S. Bloss, BMC Medical Research Methodology, 20:15. 2020.
While there is wide consensus that the public should be consulted about emerging technology early in development, it is difficult to elicit public opinion about innovations unfamiliar to lay audiences. We sought public input on a program of research on genetic engineering to ...
Design and analysis of CRISPR-based underdominance toxin-antidote gene drives
Tags: CRISPR, Gene drive, Gene drive synthetic, Genetic engineering, Modeling, Population modification/replacement, Population suppression, Toxin-antidote, UnderdominanceJ. Champer, S. E. Champer, I. K. Kim, A. G. Clark and P. W. Messer, Evolutionary Applications, 18. 2020.
We model drives which target essential genes that are either haplosufficient or haplolethal, using nuclease promoters with expression restricted to the germline, promoters that additionally result in cleavage activity in the early embryo from maternal deposition, and promoters ...
Suppressing evolution in genetically engineered systems through repeated supplementation
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, Genetic engineering, Modeling, Population genetics/dynamics, ResistanceN. C. Layman, B. M. Tuschhoff, A. J. Basinski, C. H. Remien, J. J. Bull and S. L. Nuismer, Evolutionary Applications, 12. 2020.
Genetically engineered organisms are prone to evolve in response to the engineering. This evolution is often undesirable and can negatively affect the purpose of the engineering. Methods that maintain the stability of engineered genomes are therefore critical to the successful ...
Mixed knobs in corn cobs
Tags: Genetic engineering, Sex distorterP. Lamelza and M. A. Lampson, Genes and Development, 34:1110-1112. 2020.
In this issue of Genes & Development, Swentowsky and colleagues (pp. 1239-1251) show that two types of knobs, those composed of 180-bp and TR1 sequences, recruit their own novel and divergent kinesin-14 family members to form neocentromeres.
Distinct kinesin motors drive two types of maize neocentromeres
Tags: Genetic engineering, Sex distorterK. W. Swentowsky, J. I. Gent, E. G. Lowry, V. Schubert, X. Ran, K. F. Tseng, A. E. Harkess, W. H. Qiu and R. K. Dawe, Genes and Development, 34:1239-1251. 2020.
Here we describe a second kinesin-14 gene, TR-1 kinesin (Trkin), that is required to mobilize neocentromeres made up of the minor tandem repeat TR-1.
Atypical meiosis can be adaptive in outcrossed Schizosaccharomyces pombe due to wtf meiotic drivers
Tags: Agriculture, Genetic engineering, Genetics, Transmission distortion, Yeast and FungiM. A. Bravo Núñez, I. M. Sabbarini, L. E. Eide, R. L. Unckless and S. E. Zanders, eLife, 9:e57936. 2020.
Here, we demonstrate that in scenarios analogous to outcrossing, wtf drivers generate a fitness landscape in which atypical spores, such as aneuploids and diploids, are advantageous. In this context, wtf drivers can decrease the fitness costs of mutations that disrupt meiotic ...
Translating gene drive science to promote linguistic diversity in community and stakeholder engagement
Tags: Gene drive synthetic, Genetic engineering, Stakeholder engagementC. Cheung, S. Gamez, R. Carballar-Lejarazú, V. Ferman, V. N. Vásquez, G. Terradas, J. Ishikawa, C. E. Schairer, E. Bier, J. M. Marshall, A. A. James, O. S. Akbari and C. S. Bloss, Global Public Health, 2020.
Information about genetic engineering (GE) for vector control in the United States is disseminated primarily in English, though non-English speakers are equally, and in some geographic regions even more affected by such technologies. Non-English-speaking publics should have equal ...
Can CRISPR gene drive work in pest and beneficial haplodiploid species?
Tags: CRISPR, Gene drive, Gene drive synthetic, Genetic engineering, Pest managementJ. Li, O. Aidlin Harari, A.-L. Doss, L. L. Walling, P. W. Atkinson, S. Morin and B. E. Tabashnik, Evolutionary Applications, 2020.
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 ...
RNAi: Applications in Vertebrate Pest Management
Tags: Gene editing, Genetic biocontrol, Genetic engineeringK. E. Horak, Trends in Biotechnology, 38:1200-1202. 2020.
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
Tags: Evolution, Genetic engineering, Transmission distortion, Y-chromosomeD. Bachtrog, Trends in Genetics, 2020.
Recurrent sex chromosome drive can have profound ecological, evolutionary, and cellular impacts and account for unique features of sex chromosomes.
Male-biased adult production of the striped fruit fly, Zeugodacus scutellata, by feeding dsRNA fpecific to Transformer-2
Tags: Genetic engineering, Sterile insect technique (SIT)M. A. Al Baki, M. Vatanparast and Y. Kim, Insects, 11:211. 2020.
Sterile insect release technique (SIT) is effective for eradicating quarantine insects including various tephritid fruit flies. When SIT is used for fruit flies, it is challenging to remove females from sterile males due to oviposition-associated piercing damage. This study ...
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 ...
Gene Drive – The Concept Explained
Tags: Gene drive, Genetic engineering, Genetics, Transmission distortionGeneConvene Global Collaborative, GeneConvene Global Collaborative, 2020.
Population-level multiplexing: A promising strategy to manage the evolution of resistance against gene drives targeting a neutral locus
Tags: CRISPR, Gene drive synthetic, Genetic engineering, Population genetics/dynamicsM. P. Edgington, T. Harvey-Samuel and L. Alphey, Evolutionary Applications, 10. 2020.
CRISPR-based gene drives bias inheritance in their favour by inducing double-stranded breaks (DSBs) at wild-type homologous loci and using the drive transgene as a repair template-converting drive heterozygotes into homozygotes. Recent studies have shown that alternate ...
Genetic frontiers for conservation: An assessment of synthetic biology and biodiversity conservation
Tags: Biodiversity/Conservation, Genetic engineering, Genetically modified organisms, Policy, Regulation, Risk and safety, Synthetic biologyK. H. Redford, T. Brooks, M., B. W. Nicholas and J. S. A. Macfarlane, International Union for Conservation of Nature, 2019.
This assessment is the beginning of a process that will lead to the development of an IUCN policy to guide the Union’s Director General, Commissions, and Members. The draft policy will be discussed in many fora before it is brought to vote at the World Conservation Congress in ...
Herbicide resistant weeds: A call to integrate conventional agricultural practices, molecular biology knowledge and new technologies
Tags: Agriculture, Biodiversity/Conservation, Ecology, Gene drive, Gene drive synthetic, Genetic engineeringV. E. Perotti, A. S. Larran, V. E. Palmieri, A. K. Martinatto and H. R. Permingeat, Plant Science, 290:110255. 2019.
Herbicide resistant (HR) weeds are of major concern in modern agriculture. This situation is exacerbated by the massive adoption of herbicide-based technologies along with the overuse of a few active ingredients to control weeds over vast areas year after year. Also, many other ...
Herbicide resistant weeds: A call to integrate conventional agricultural practices, molecular biology knowledge and new technologies
Tags: Agriculture, Gene drive, Gene drive synthetic, Genetic engineeringV. E. Perotti, A. S. Larran, V. E. Palmieri, A. K. Martinatto and H. R. Perrningeat, Plant Science, 290:15. 2019.
Herbicide resistant (HR) weeds are of major concern in modern agriculture. This situation is exacerbated by the massive adoption of herbicide-based technologies along with the overuse of a few active ingredients to control weeds over vast areas year after year. Also, many other ...
What is genome editing?
Tags: CRISPR, Gene editing, Genetic engineeringNHGRI, NHGRI, 2019.
Genome editing is a method that lets scientists change the DNA of many organisms, including plants, bacteria, and animals. Editing DNA can lead to changes in physical traits, like eye color, and disease risk. Scientists use different technologies to do this.
The association between mitochondrial genetic variation and reduced colony fitness in an invasive wasp
Tags: Evolution, Genetic biocontrol, Genetic engineering, Invasive species, Sex distorterJ. Dobelmann, A. Alexander, J. W. Baty, N. J. Gemmell, M. A. M. Gruber, O. Quinn, T. Wenseleers and P. J. Lester, Molecular Ecology, 28:3324-3338. 2019.
Despite the mitochondrion's long-recognized role in energy production, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variation commonly found in natural populations was assumed to be effectively neutral. However, variation in mtDNA has now been increasingly linked to phenotypic variation in life ...
Meiotic drive shapes rates of karyotype evolution in mammals
Tags: Evolution, Genetic engineering, Other mammals, Transmission distortionBlackmon, H., J. Justison, I. Mayrose and E. E. Goldberg, Evolution, 73:511-523. 2019.
Chromosome number is perhaps the most basic characteristic of a genome, yet generalizations that can explain the evolution of this trait across large clades have remained elusive. Using karyotype data from over 1000 mammals, we developed and applied a phylogenetic model of ...
CRISPR gene drive efficiency and resistance rate is highly heritable with no common genetic loci of large effect
Tags: Biological control, CRISPR, Evolution, Fruit fly, Gene drive, Gene drive synthetic, Genetic engineering, Replicator/site directed nuclease, ResistanceChamper, JW, Z. X.; Luthra, A.; Reeves, R.; Chung, J.; Liu, C.; Lee, Y. L.; Liu, J. X.; Yang, E.; Messer, P. W.; Clark, A. G., Genetics, 212:333-341. 2019.
Gene drives could allow for control of vector-borne diseases by directly suppressing vector populations or spreading genetic payloads designed to reduce pathogen transmission. Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) homing gene drives work by cleaving ...
Spatial structure undermines parasite suppression by gene drive cargo
Tags: Ecology, Evolution, Gene drive synthetic, Genetic engineering, Selfish genetic elementsBull, JJR, Christopher H.; Gomulkiewicz, Richard; Krone, Stephen M., PeerJ, 7:e7921. 2019.
Gene drives may be used in two ways to curtail vectored diseases. Both involve engineering the drive to spread in the vector population. One approach uses the drive to directly depress vector numbers, possibly to extinction. The other approach leaves intact the vector population ...
Genetic villains: Killer meiotic drivers
Tags: Gene drive mechanisms, Genetic engineering, Selfish genetic elements, Toxin-antidote, Transmission distortionBravo Núñez, MAN, Nicole L.; Zanders, Sarah E., Trends in Genetics, 34:424-433. 2018.
Unbiased allele transmission into progeny is a fundamental genetic concept canonized as Mendel’s Law of Segregation. Not all alleles, however, abide by the law. Killer meiotic drivers are ultra-selfish DNA sequences that are transmitted into more than half (sometimes all) of ...
Rapid comeback of males: evolution of male-killer suppression in a green lacewing population
Tags: Evolution, Fruit fly, Genetic engineering, Other arthropods, Other Symbionts, Selfish genetic elements, Sex distorter, Transmission distortion, WolbachiaHayashi, MN, M.; Kageyama, D., Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences, 285:6. 2018.
Evolutionary theory predicts that the spread of cytoplasmic sex ratio distorters leads to the evolution of host nuclear suppressors, although there are extremely few empirical observations of this phenomenon. Here, we demonstrate that a nuclear suppressor of a cytoplasmic male ...
THE NATIONAL BIOSAFETY TECHNICAL COMMISSION (CTNBio) NORMATIVE RESOLUTION No. 16, OF JANUARY 15, 2018
Tags: Agriculture, Genetic engineering, Genetically modified organisms, Policy, Regulation, Risk and safetyCTNBio, National Biosafety Technical Commission of Brasil, 2018.
Sets forth the technical requirements for submitting an inquiry to the CTNBio concerning Precision Breeding Innovation Techniques. THE NATIONAL BIOSAFETY TECHNICAL COMMISSION (CTNBio), using its legal and regulatory powers and in observance of sections XV and XVI of article 14 of ...
Veni, vidi, vici: the success of wtf meiotic drivers in fission yeast
Tags: Agriculture, Gene drive mechanisms, Genetic engineeringLópez Hernández, JFZ, Sarah E., Yeast, 35:447-453. 2018.
Meiotic drivers are selfish DNA loci that can bias their own transmission into gametes. Owing to their transmission advantages, meiotic drivers can spread in populations even if the drivers or linked variants decrease organismal fitness. Meiotic drive was first formally described ...
How selfish DNA hijacks its way into egg cells
Tags: Genetic engineering, Rodents, Selfish genetic elements, Transmission distortionScience Magazine, Science, 2017.
Genetic conflicts: the usual suspects and beyond
Tags: Evolution, Fruit fly, Genetic engineering, Transmission distortion, WolbachiaMcLaughlin, RNM, H. S., Journal of Experimental Biology, 220:6-17. 2017.
Selfishness is pervasive and manifests at all scales of biology, from societies, to individuals, to genetic elements within a genome. The relentless struggle to seek evolutionary advantages drives perpetual cycles of adaptation and counter-adaptation, commonly referred to as Red ...
A bigger toolbox: Biotechnology in biodiversity conservation
Tags: Biodiversity/Conservation, Gene drive synthetic, Genetic engineering, GenomicsR. T. Corlett, Trends in Biotechnology, 35:55-65. 2017.
Conservation biology needs a bigger toolbox to meet unprecedented challenges. Genomics, fueled by declining sequencing costs, offers novel tools with increased precision for genetic questions previously answered with a few molecular markers, as well as completely new ...
Driven to extinction? The ethics of eradicating mosquitoes with gene-drive technologies
Tags: Ethics, Gene drive synthetic, Genetic engineering, Other arthropodsPugh, J, Journal of Medical Ethics, 42:578-581. 2016.
Mosquito-borne diseases represent a significant global disease burden, and recent outbreaks of such diseases have led to calls to reduce mosquito populations. Furthermore, advances in gene-drive' technology have raised the prospect of eradicating certain species of mosquito via ...
Rapid evolution of yeast centromeres in the absence of drive
Tags: Evolution, Genetic engineering, Genomics, Transmission distortion, Yeast and FungiBensasson, DZ, M.; Burt, A.; Koufopanou, V., Genetics, 178:2161-2167. 2008.
To find the most rapidly evolving regions in the yeast genome we compared most of chromosome III from three closely related lineages of the wild yeast Saccharomyces paradoxits. Unexpectedly, the centromere appears to be the fastest-evolving part of the chromosome, evolving even ...
The distribution of B chromosomes across species
Tags: Chromosomal drive, Ecology, Evolution, Gene drive, Genetic engineeringPalestis, BGT, R.; Burt, A.; Jones, R. N., Cytogenetic and Genome Research, 106:151-158. 2004.
In this review we look at the broad picture of how B chromosomes are distributed across a wide range of species. We review recent studies of the factors associated with the presence of Bs across species, and provide new analyses with updated data and additional variables. The ...
Homing endonuclease genes: the rise and fall and rise again of a selfish element
Tags: Ecology, Evolution, Genetic engineering, Replicator/site directed nuclease, Yeast and FungiBurt, AK, V., Current Opinion in Genetics & Development, 14:609-615. 2004.
Homing endonuclease genes (HEGs) are selfish genetic elements that spread by first cleaving chromosomes that do not contain them and then getting copied across to the broken chromosome as a byproduct of the repair process. The success of this strategy will depend on the ...
Site-specific selfish genes as tools for the control and genetic engineering of natural populations
Tags: Evolution, Fruit fly, Gene drive synthetic, Genetic engineering, Replicator/site directed nuclease, Vector controlBurt, A, Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences, 270:921-928. 2003.
Site-specific selfish genes exploit host functions to copy themselves into a defined target DNA sequence, and include homing endonuclease genes, group II introns and some LINE-like transposable elements. If such genes can be engineered to target new host sequences, then they can ...
Adaptation for horizontal transfer in a homing endonuclease
Tags: Ecology, Evolution, Genetic engineering, Replicator/site directed nuclease, Yeast and FungiKoufopanou, VG, M. R.; Burt, A., Molecular Biology and Evolution, 19:239-246. 2002.
Selfish genes of no function other than self-propagation are susceptible to degeneration if they become fixed in a population. and regular transfer to new species may be the only means for their long-term persistence. To test this idea we surveyed 24 species of yeast for VDE, a ...
Outcrossed sex allows a selfish gene to invade yeast populations
Tags: Ecology, Evolution, Gene drive mechanisms, Genetic engineering, Replicator/site directed nuclease, Yeast and FungiGoddard, MRG, D.; Burt, A., Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences, 268:2537-2542. 2001.
Homing endonuclease genes (HEGs) in eukaryotes are optional genes that have no obvious effect on host phenotype except for causing chromosomes not containing a cop), of the gene to be cut, thus causing them to be inherited at a greater than Mendelian rate via gene conversion. ...
