IT IS life’s lottery, blessing some and cursing others in equal number: the chance of a sexually reproducing organism’s offspring inheriting a particular version of a gene from a particular parent is 50%. Usually. But there are exceptions. Gene drives are stretches of DNA that change those odds to favour one parent’s version of a gene over the other’s. That version will thus tend to spread through a population. If the odds are stacked sufficiently in its favour it can do so fast and, within a few generations, become the only version of the gene in question that remains in circulation.
Researchers realised, soon after the discovery of gene drives half a century ago, that they might be forged into tools for eradicating diseases and pests. For example, a drive promulgating a genetic variant that made mosquitoes unable to host the parasite that causes malaria could be used to help eliminate the disease. If the propagating variant made female mosquitoes sterile, it might provide a means...Continue reading
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