A powerful new technique for changing genes in insects, animals and plants holds great promise, according to a report from an influential panel of scientists released Wednesday. But the group also says it's potentially very dangerous. As such, the report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine concludes that it's far too soon to release any organisms altered with the technique, known as a gene drive, into the environment. Even so, scientists should continue conducting experiments using this approach inside laboratories, the report urges. And the panel endorsed the possibility of conducting very controlled studies of creatures altered with a gene drive outside laboratories.
Imagine if we programmed the mosquitoes that carry malaria to self-destruct. Not just a few of them. All of them. Every single last bloodsucker. That's no longer an outlandish scenario. With a stunningly powerful new genetic-editing tool known as a "gene drive," scientists could, in theory, transform entire species. I'll explain the mechanics below, but the basic idea is that scientists could alter the DNA of a few individual organisms and use gene drives to spread a modification throughout an entire population by tweaking the rules of genetic inheritance. Ponder the possibilities: Eliminating malaria could save millions of lives. We might modify all ticks so that they no longer carry Lyme disease.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A powerful new technology holds the promise of rapidly altering genes to make malaria-proof mosquitoes, eliminate their Zika-carrying cousins or wipe out an invasive species, but a report Wednesday says these "gene drives" aren't ready to let loose in the wild just yet. Advisers to the government say lots more research is needed to learn to safely use gene drives and understand the ecological and social consequences of essentially hijacking evolution, spreading genetic changes through populations of insects, animals or certain plants faster than nature. And the public, around the world, needs a say in whether and how gene drives eventually are used, especially because some
A gene drive is a piece of “selfish” DNA that can spread rapidly through a population. But fears that engineered gene drives could spread out of control may be exaggerated as there are flaws in the existing designs that mean they will not last long in the wild. Modified versions of gene drive are in the works that might just deliver on the technology’s enormous potential to do good or bad. Most plants and animals have matching pairs of chromosomes, but pass down only one of each pair to an offspring - the other comes from the other parent. This means that if you add a piece of DNA to one chromosome, normally only half the offspring will inherit it. Gene drives cheat by “copying and pasting” themselves