Mosquito population made extinct with genetic tweak

Mosquito population made extinct with genetic tweak

News:

1. Scientists recently for the first time succeeded in wiping out an entire population of malaria-carrying mosquitoes in the lab using a gene editing tool to programme their extinction.

Important Facts:

2. The new research, published in Nature Biotechnology, has been funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
3. Lab experiment with genetic drive technology:

• Scientists modified a gene known as “doublesex” while working on a mosquito species named as Anopheles gambiae working at Imperial College London.
• As a result of modified double sex gene, more females in each generation either become infertile or could not bite.
• After few generations, there were no females left and the population collapsed due to lack of offspring.

4. Genetic drive technology:

• It uses the molecular scissors known as CRISPR/Cas9 to copy and paste themselves into an organism’s DNA at precise locations.
• It breaks the rules of inheritance, quickly spreading a genetic modification to all offsprings.

5. Significance of the study:

• Pest control: Since all insects have some version of doublesex so gene drive can help in developing new pest control measures.
• Control malaria outbreak: Since malaria kills more than 4 lakh people each year worldwide, according to the World Health Organization and this gene drive will be significant in controlling the malarial spread.
• Step ahead of traditional practice: Traditional approaches to control mosquitoes especially the use of insecticides is becoming less effective which gene drive can overcome.

6. Concerns of the gene drive technology:

• Threat of extinction: It involves intentional modification of genetic makeup of a species which may lead to its extinction.
• Unethical practice: Some scientists and technology watchdog groups have called for a moratorium on gene drive research owing to its unethical way to wipe out a species.
• Ecological risks: Manipulating and removing natural populations by gene drive may destroy food webs and shift the behaviour of diseases.
• Social risks: It can disrupt agriculture, enabling new weapons to mass extinction of species harmful to humans.
• Resistance to gene drive: There are also apprehensions that mosquitoes may develop resistance against gene drive technology like other traditional practices of malarial control.

7. Way forward :

• The technology will now be tested in a confined laboratory setting that mimics a tropical environment, since malaria is more prevalent there.
• The issue to use gene drive technology will be discussed at UN Biodiversity Summit, in Egypt which has mandated one of its technical committees to assess gene drive’s potential risks and benefits.