A new technology could wipe out whole species. Is it a magic bullet or a genetic atom bomb?
Every year more than 600,000 people die from mosquito-transmitted malaria, most of them children under age five. Some insects that are disease vectors, such as mosquitoes, are currently expanding their range around the world, bringing new threats. Genetic engineering can fix this by permanently altering insect genes through what is known as a gene drive.
When an individual carrying two copies of such a gene mates with another that has none, all the offspring initially have just one copy of the gene on the chromosome inherited from the gene-drive parent. But soon after fertilization, the nuclease cuts the DNA sequence on the other chromosome from the parent that did not carry the gene at the precise location of the gene drive. The cell then uses the intact chromosome to reconstruct the gap in the DNA sequence of the other chromosome.
Researchers around the world soon developed gene drives in mosquitoes. In the laboratory, large populations of mosquitoes disappeared in less than a year thanks to the gene drive. No technical obstacle exists to the release of such a genetic bomb, in insects at least. Immense problems persist in creating gene drives in mammals because of the way their cells respond to breaks in DNA at different points in the life of a cell.
Gene drive opponents, concerned about potential ecological damage and suspicious of DARPA and other funders, have called for a moratorium on research. Research nonetheless continues, but it is generally agreed that environmental risk assessments and the active involvement of affected communities are required before any release might be considered. Because of the potential consequences on their environment, people need to give what is called free, prior, informed consent.
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