3 ms·

In most cases, evolution is going to win out over gene drives. They will be disabled, selected against, dropped out and worked around. Finding a gene drive that

In most cases, evolution is going to win out over gene drives. They will be disabled, selected against, dropped out and worked around. Finding a gene drive that would truly wipe out a population is similar to finding a virus that would do the same. This appears to be very low. The population sizes of insects like anopheles mosquitoes mean that there will be ample chance for the species to find a way around the gene drive. The rate of evolution is proportional to population size and the selective coefficient, which are both huge in this case.

folli 8y ago
That's true in the long run, however in shorter time frames there's no reason that a gene drive couldn't establish itself in a local population. You bring up viruses; the aim of a virus is survival, and wiping out its host is counterproductive. The most successful viruses are usually comparatively docile to prolong carriage (most extreme examples are endogenous retroviruses).