NOTES;
gene drives: elimination. except pocket populations that don’t mix and genetic anomolies. may survive.
engineering organism for just over half a century. pharma, brewery. engineered organisms in nature?
we’re already, ie. invasive species goats in Galapagos.
solved through military action.
we spread mosquitos around the world via shipping. to hawaii, not just affect humans but other species too. “sterile insect release” pioneered by bushland and knipling in 1950s. zero sum mating event.
case study: rabbits in australia as game animals, became invasive. constructed longest fence in the world to prevent bunny movement. failed. then released bioweapon, myxoma virus.
crispr is the innate bacterial system we have exploited
famous first biosafety conference asilomar may 18, 1975: what are the ramifications of being to gene edit.
gene drive: rather than traditionally engineering in a gene, quickly releases down the line through genetic inheritance. the drive spreads through whole species. cargo + cas9 + RNA guides= complete cassette. copied onto both chromosomes. mated with wild type = haploid heterozygote mosquitos, they're edited again in early embryo stage, repeat indefinitely.
risk: one escaped organisms can affect whole species
caveats: only works in sexual, bacteria, virus and other asexual organism can’t be affected, can only work at rate of reproductions fast, like mosquitos (great for invasive) if takes >1 year generation time is too long to make a difference. a gene drive is only as easy as the species being engineered. we know just about all genes for model organisms: c elegans, zebra fish, mice and most humans. we don’t know how easy it is to insert genes into other organisms.
why can’t we use drives to reproduce extinct species: evolution is billion year long computation problem to spread gene around. one can explore putting in genes to make it more fit but it should be in flux with environment. instead gene drive removes invasive organisms that might be competing with them.
unwanted edits can be overwritten. like software updates. overwrite gene drives.
applications on the agenda:
malaria mosquito- 2024 gates foundation release in northern africa. global.
new world screwworm
taming the desert locust- eats all crops
localizing and containing them on a isolated place and prevent from spreading.
daisy drive: c-b-a all traits has to be inherited. based on modeling from local environment.
how to square the fear in community? citizen science, community outreach. not in a top down way.