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Cliff notes that hopefully clarify some things-- This concerns an invasive mosquito (Aedes aegypti) that carries dengue/yellow fever/zika and more. Males were

Cliff notes that hopefully clarify some things-- This concerns an invasive mosquito (Aedes aegypti) that carries dengue/yellow fever/zika and more. Males were raised with a mutation that, passed on to offspring, kills females before reach adulthood (and have grandchildren). They released this on 1 hectacre of land, the genes functioned as expected, and the genes didn't travel more than 400m (affected mosquitoes have a sort of fluorescence under the right light). Probably also as expected, the genes disappeared after a year (a few generations). My guess is that mostly happened from neighboring unmodified Aedes aegypti mosquitoes genes coming over to replace the modified ones. AFAIK it'd take a monumental effort to wipe out a species this way, but suppressing or near-eliminating a population in a place you can isolate from non-modified aegypti sounds possible, particularly if you do other suppressive efforts.

engineer_22 4y ago
Great TLDR thanks! Sounds like a great business to be in, GMO mosquitoes will need to be constantly reintroduced to keep down the reproduction quotient.
RosanaAnaDana 4y ago
Yeah it seems like a kind of contradiction if you want this to be ecologically effective. You can't simultaneously have the phenotype severely impact reproductive success and be super effective in controlling the population.
- wongarsu 4y ago
  Which is great for a risk-management standpoint: the modified genes will only spread through great human effort, there's no scenario where there's unintended side-effects and we can't stop the spread.
- outworlder 4y ago
  It's great actually. We just have to keep applying the 'treatment' in affected areas. Rather than having it spread uncontrollably.
- shellfishgene 4y ago
  You could, look up 'gene drive', which has also been discussed in that context.
  - vosper 4y ago
    A gene drive doesn't work if there's no chance to pass the gene(s) on through reproduction
- hemreldop 4y ago
  You can if it only impacts reproductive success a few generations down the line.
perlgeek 4y ago
> AFAIK it'd take a monumental effort to wipe out a species this way Which is why I suspect this is an early-stage experiment, with the far goal being a gene drive that can locally wipe out a species more efficiently.

engineer_22 4y ago

Great TLDR thanks! Sounds like a great business to be in, GMO mosquitoes will need to be constantly reintroduced to keep down the reproduction quotient.

RosanaAnaDana 4y ago

Yeah it seems like a kind of contradiction if you want this to be ecologically effective. You can't simultaneously have the phenotype severely impact reproductive success and be super effective in controlling the population.

wongarsu 4y ago
Which is great for a risk-management standpoint: the modified genes will only spread through great human effort, there's no scenario where there's unintended side-effects and we can't stop the spread.
outworlder 4y ago
It's great actually. We just have to keep applying the 'treatment' in affected areas. Rather than having it spread uncontrollably.
shellfishgene 4y ago
You could, look up 'gene drive', which has also been discussed in that context.
- vosper 4y ago
  A gene drive doesn't work if there's no chance to pass the gene(s) on through reproduction
hemreldop 4y ago
You can if it only impacts reproductive success a few generations down the line.

perlgeek 4y ago

> AFAIK it'd take a monumental effort to wipe out a species this way Which is why I suspect this is an early-stage experiment, with the far goal being a gene drive that can locally wipe out a species more efficiently.