quarta-feira, 26 de setembro de 2018

CRISPR e exterminação?

https://futurism.com/gene-drive-mosquitos-crispr/

Citando:
"
Scientists Wiped Out a Mosquito Population by Hacking Their DNA With CRISPR

For their study, published Monday in the journal Nature Biotechnology, the researchers used CRISPR to modify the gene responsible for determining sex in 150 male mosquitoes. That alteration made the male gene dominant — the idea was, over time, that the population would stop producing females, driving them to collapse.

The researchers added these genetically altered mosquitoes to a caged population of 450 unaltered male and female mosquitoes to reproduce with them. The hack worked: Subsequent generations of females exhibited male and female characteristics, couldn’t bite, and couldn’t lay eggs. By the eighth generation, there were no longer any females in the population at all.

WILD CARD

This is the first time scientists have seen a gene drive effectively suppress an entire population.

But knowing that the technology works is only one part of the battle. We also need to figure out whether it could cause any unintended side effects if it’s unleashed outside the lab."

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