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Sterilized by radiation sounds much more risky to me. You don't know what else was changed by the radiation. With gene editing at least you know what you change

Sterilized by radiation sounds much more risky to me. You don't know what else was changed by the radiation. With gene editing at least you know what you changed.

michaelmrose 6y ago
If you sterilize an animal it doesn't reproduce. These insects only don't reproduce well.
- zaarn 6y ago
  How would you check millions of insects for actually being sterile? Considering it cost 100M$, I assume they established a non-lethal dose of radiation and then just blasted the insects. Could easily be that one develops beneficial mutations.
  - PopeDotNinja 6y ago
    I'm imagining a lab where how effectively mosquitos are humping in measured after blasting their naughty bits with radiation. That is amazing. "What do you do for a living?" "Have you ever heard of PornHub? Well, I'm a contributor to MosquitoHub. It sucks less and less everyday!"
  - Knufen 6y ago
    Not to sound condescending but I think we have yet to observe radiation leading to useful mutation. Radiation does not lead to 'mutation' in the sense of what you are implying. Rather it leads to DNA damages (breakage of chemical bonds) which usually leads to cancer.
    - zaarn 6y ago
      Radiation increases mutation rates. Natural mutations occur through not vastly different mechanisms either. In case you think no positive mutations come out of it; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutation_breeding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutation_breeding We literally blasted plants with radiation and then bred the ones that looked like they had some positive mutations. Especially the list of notable results is interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutation_breeding#Notable_mutagen_varieties https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutation_breeding#Notable_muta...
      - Knufen 6y ago
        You are definitely right, but I probably should have specified. Irradiating seeds is vastly different than irradiating already living specimen, and hardly transferable to insects I believe.
        zaarn 6y ago
        Irradiating the entire specimen is not so different if you also irradiate the part of them that produces the seed. You're just irradiating an earlier stage of reproduction, the result is unlikely to be different. Seeds have the advantage that they do not move and contain little water that could interfere with the radiation. The insect will produce it's own seed once irradiated, infertile or not.
    - NickNameNick 6y ago
      It's been tried. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_gardening https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_gardening "The practice of plant irradiation has resulted in the development of over 2000 new varieties of plants, most of which are now used in agricultural production" See also: https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/atom-garden-eden/ https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/atom-garden-eden/

Sterilized by radiation sounds much more risky to me. You don't know what else was changed by the radiation. With gene editing at least you know what you changed.

michaelmrose 6y ago

If you sterilize an animal it doesn't reproduce. These insects only don't reproduce well.

zaarn 6y ago
How would you check millions of insects for actually being sterile? Considering it cost 100M$, I assume they established a non-lethal dose of radiation and then just blasted the insects. Could easily be that one develops beneficial mutations.
- PopeDotNinja 6y ago
  I'm imagining a lab where how effectively mosquitos are humping in measured after blasting their naughty bits with radiation. That is amazing. "What do you do for a living?" "Have you ever heard of PornHub? Well, I'm a contributor to MosquitoHub. It sucks less and less everyday!"
- Knufen 6y ago
  Not to sound condescending but I think we have yet to observe radiation leading to useful mutation. Radiation does not lead to 'mutation' in the sense of what you are implying. Rather it leads to DNA damages (breakage of chemical bonds) which usually leads to cancer.
  - zaarn 6y ago
    Radiation increases mutation rates. Natural mutations occur through not vastly different mechanisms either. In case you think no positive mutations come out of it; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutation_breeding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutation_breeding We literally blasted plants with radiation and then bred the ones that looked like they had some positive mutations. Especially the list of notable results is interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutation_breeding#Notable_mutagen_varieties https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutation_breeding#Notable_muta...
    - Knufen 6y ago
      You are definitely right, but I probably should have specified. Irradiating seeds is vastly different than irradiating already living specimen, and hardly transferable to insects I believe.
      - zaarn 6y ago
        Irradiating the entire specimen is not so different if you also irradiate the part of them that produces the seed. You're just irradiating an earlier stage of reproduction, the result is unlikely to be different. Seeds have the advantage that they do not move and contain little water that could interfere with the radiation. The insect will produce it's own seed once irradiated, infertile or not.
  - NickNameNick 6y ago
    It's been tried. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_gardening https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_gardening "The practice of plant irradiation has resulted in the development of over 2000 new varieties of plants, most of which are now used in agricultural production" See also: https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/atom-garden-eden/ https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/atom-garden-eden/