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I used to think gene drives were a perfect fix for invasive species. Then I saw what happened in a lab in Gainesville.
A few years back, I was all in on using CRISPR to build a gene drive against some local mosquitos. The plan was simple: make them all have male offspring. But a project at a Florida lab showed the engineered gene jumped to a different, non-target species after just three generations. It didn't spread, but it was there. That changed everything for me. Now I only support research with physical and molecular containment, like split drives. Has anyone else seen a containment failure that made them rethink a tech they supported?
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the_morgan6mo ago
Yeah, that point from umamartin about the gene being active or not is key. It reminds me of a talk I saw about lab-made viruses for biocontrol. They had one that was supposed to only affect a specific type of crop pest. In a closed test, it ended up making a related, but helpful, insect sick too. Not wipe it out sick, but just enough to lower its numbers. That kind of spillover effect, even if it's small, is what keeps me up at night. It's why I'm with the original poster on needing those extra layers of containment now.
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umamartin6mo ago
Honestly, that's a scary detail. Do you know if the gene that jumped was still functional in the non-target species, or was it just inert DNA sitting there? That feels like a huge difference.
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