3 ms·

If all the females are infertile there will be no offspring, how could a gene drive work if it cant spread the genes?

xevb3k 8y ago
It’s worth reading the article, it’s actually not bad! The key quote is probably: “This is precisely the area that the researchers, from Imperial College in the UK, targeted with their gene drive system. Males that carry one or two copies of the edited version of the doublesex gene develop perfectly normally and are fertile. Females with only one copy also develop normally. In all these cases, these animals will experience gene editing, and all their offspring will end up receiving a copy of the edited version of the gene from them. And females where both copies have been edited develop with a mix of male and female traits and can't reproduce.” So the majority of offspring carrying the trait can reproduce. The gene drive mechanism ensures that while the change reduces fitness, it still spreads through the population. It does this, because even if the gene drive modification only exists on one chromosome, it will copy itself to the other chromosome.
ajuc 8y ago
You make it a recessive trait. So only if both parents have it - it gets activated and the child is infertile.
- felipemnoa 8y ago
  I'm still wondering why we cannot do this to bugs like ticks or bed bugs? Especially bed bugs, they are really hard to kill and spread like crazy.
  - phkahler 8y ago
    I'd guess that bedbugs exist in separate populations that don't inter-breed much. Once house or hotel may harbor a population that exists in isolation and can sometimes spread to new locations. Mosquitoes live outdoors, but still don't constitute one large population. If we were to try to eradicate them I think using multiple techniques at once on a global scale would probably be necessary. You want to get them ALL. There will always be that one place with a bedbug population in isolation waiting to reintroduce them to the world.
    - felipemnoa 8y ago
      It would be nice If you could mail order a colony of genetically modified bed bugs just like you can order pesticide. If this option were to exist even if there was a resurgence you could easily fight them off with this new option. Now that I think about it. This would make a great startup idea.
      - turtlecloud 8y ago
        The economic incentive of the startup would be to keep bedbugs alive. If they eradicated bedbugs, the company would go bankrupt.
        felipemnoa 8y ago
        Because of the points raised by phkahler I highly doubt that you could wipe them out from the entire planet. Even if you did, you would still make lots of money doing so.

It’s worth reading the article, it’s actually not bad! The key quote is probably: “This is precisely the area that the researchers, from Imperial College in the UK, targeted with their gene drive system. Males that carry one or two copies of the edited version of the doublesex gene develop perfectly normally and are fertile. Females with only one copy also develop normally. In all these cases, these animals will experience gene editing, and all their offspring will end up receiving a copy of the edited version of the gene from them. And females where both copies have been edited develop with a mix of male and female traits and can't reproduce.” So the majority of offspring carrying the trait can reproduce. The gene drive mechanism ensures that while the change reduces fitness, it still spreads through the population. It does this, because even if the gene drive modification only exists on one chromosome, it will copy itself to the other chromosome.

ajuc 8y ago

You make it a recessive trait. So only if both parents have it - it gets activated and the child is infertile.

felipemnoa 8y ago
I'm still wondering why we cannot do this to bugs like ticks or bed bugs? Especially bed bugs, they are really hard to kill and spread like crazy.
- phkahler 8y ago
  I'd guess that bedbugs exist in separate populations that don't inter-breed much. Once house or hotel may harbor a population that exists in isolation and can sometimes spread to new locations. Mosquitoes live outdoors, but still don't constitute one large population. If we were to try to eradicate them I think using multiple techniques at once on a global scale would probably be necessary. You want to get them ALL. There will always be that one place with a bedbug population in isolation waiting to reintroduce them to the world.
  - felipemnoa 8y ago
    It would be nice If you could mail order a colony of genetically modified bed bugs just like you can order pesticide. If this option were to exist even if there was a resurgence you could easily fight them off with this new option. Now that I think about it. This would make a great startup idea.
    - turtlecloud 8y ago
      The economic incentive of the startup would be to keep bedbugs alive. If they eradicated bedbugs, the company would go bankrupt.
      - felipemnoa 8y ago
        Because of the points raised by phkahler I highly doubt that you could wipe them out from the entire planet. Even if you did, you would still make lots of money doing so.