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Usually populations evolve resistance to pathogens or toxins via intermediate steps where some mutation delivers partial protection and the organism can build o

Usually populations evolve resistance to pathogens or toxins via intermediate steps where some mutation delivers partial protection and the organism can build on that to higher and higher doses. Expose a population of bacteria to a large dose of antibiotics and they all just die, it's when you give them a small but increasing dose that they develop resistance. By contrast having children of both sexes or just one is binary (at least among those that will go on to create a third generation) so there really isn't that same potential for intermediate steps. Plus, we can look into the fossil record and see species die out from causes sort of like this. Many species have evolved pure asexual reproduction. This provides a fitness boost to the individuals who no longer have to spend energy on mating, but the lack of genetic recombination inevitably causes extinction in a million years or so. Not exactly the same as what we're trying to do here but it's still the closest analogy available.

svnt 5y ago
All we are doing is selecting for females who can avoid the genetic mutation by some means. I’m not worried about the loss of a mosquito species, I’m just saying it is a waste of time and the wrong approach.
- Symmetry 5y ago
  Would you say that dumping disinfectant in a petri dish is just selecting for bacteria resistant to disinfectant? If a mutation arises that prevents the sex selection process then sure, the mosquito populations can recover. But whether such a mutation arises before the species is wiped out is an open question. And we can put multiple different gene drive mechanisms into the males requiring multiple simultaneous mutations to evade which aren't selected for until all are present, making the chance of such an evasion as unlikely as we need if we're willing to put the effort in.

svnt 5y ago

All we are doing is selecting for females who can avoid the genetic mutation by some means. I’m not worried about the loss of a mosquito species, I’m just saying it is a waste of time and the wrong approach.

Symmetry 5y ago
Would you say that dumping disinfectant in a petri dish is just selecting for bacteria resistant to disinfectant? If a mutation arises that prevents the sex selection process then sure, the mosquito populations can recover. But whether such a mutation arises before the species is wiped out is an open question. And we can put multiple different gene drive mechanisms into the males requiring multiple simultaneous mutations to evade which aren't selected for until all are present, making the chance of such an evasion as unlikely as we need if we're willing to put the effort in.