Balance of nature: gene drives are a worry (Introduction)

by David Turell , Tuesday, June 14, 2016, 14:37 (3084 days ago) @ David Turell

Genetic engineering among noxious insects is advancing but is worrisome: - http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fast-spreading-genetic-mutations-pose-an-ecol... - "A technique that allows particular genes to spread rapidly through populations is not ready to be set loose in the wild, warns a committee convened by the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. - "In a report released on June 8, the committee argued that such ‘gene drives' pose complex ecological risks that are not yet fully understood. “It is not ready—and we are not ready—for any kind of release,” says Elizabeth Heitman, co-chair of the committee and a research integrity educator at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee. “There is a lot of work that needs to be done.” - "Even so, Heitman and other members of the committee felt that the potential of gene drives, for example to combat insect-borne diseases, is compelling enough to warrant additional laboratory and field studies. - "Gene drives have been studied for more than half a century, and have long been postulated as a way to eradicate mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria. But the field was hampered by technical challenges until the recent advent of sophisticated—and easy-to-use—tools for engineering genomes. In the past two years, researchers have used a popular gene-editing technique called CRISPR-Cas9 to develop gene drives that spread a given gene through a population almost exponentially faster than normal in yeast, fruit flies and two species of mosquitoes. - "But as molecular biology research on gene drives has surged forward, it has outpaced our understanding of their ecological consequences, says Heitman. Even a small, accidental release from a laboratory holds the potential to spread around the globe: “After release into the environment, a gene drive knows no political boundaries,” the committee wrote. - *** - "A gene drive could have unintended effects on the environment if it is unleashed in wild populations: removing one species of insect, for example, could endanger the animals that feed on it. Given this risk, the report also stressed the importance of layering multiple methods of containment to prevent accidental release of engineered species, and of consulting with the public even before gene drive experiments are undertaken in the laboratory. It's a message that evolutionary engineer Kevin Esvelt worries may not come through strongly enough to individual researchers." - Comment: The worry about upsetting balance is very real. Again, ask the Australians. Any newly developed balance may not be good for the niche ecologic area where is happens and needed species can be destroyed.