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Scientists Release Controversial Genetically Modified Mosquitoes In High-Security Lab (npr.org)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: Scientists have launched a major new phase in the testing of a controversial genetically modified organism: a mosquito designed to quickly spread a genetic mutation lethal to its own species, NPR has learned. For the first time, researchers have begun large-scale releases of the engineered insects, into a high-security laboratory in Terni, Italy. The goal is to see if the mosquitoes could eventually provide a powerful new weapon to help eradicate malaria in Africa, where most cases occur. The lab was specially built to evaluate the modified insects in as close to a natural environment as possible without the risk of releasing them into the wild, about which there are deep concerns regarding unforeseen effects on the environment.
To prevent any unforeseen effects on the environment, scientists have always tried to keep genetically engineered organisms from spreading their mutations. But in this case, researchers want the modification to spread. So they engineered mosquitoes with a "gene drive." A gene drive is like a "selfish gene," says entomologist Ruth Mueller, because it doesn't follow the normal rules of genetics. Normally, traits are passed to only half of all offspring. With the gene drive, nearly all the progeny inherit the modification. Researchers created the mosquitoes by using the powerful new gene-editing technique known as CRISPR, which Mueller likens to a "molecular scissor which can cut at a specific site in the DNA." The cut altered a gene known as "doublesex," which is involved in the sexual development of the mosquitoes. While genetically female, the transformed insects have mouths that resemble male mosquito mouths. That means they can't bite and so can't spread the malaria parasite. In addition, the insects' reproductive organs are deformed, which means they can't lay eggs. As more and more female mosquitoes inherit two copies of the modification, more and more become sterile. Critics fear that these gene-drive mosquitoes could run amok and wreak havoc in the wild. Not only could the insects cause a negative effect on crops by eliminating important pollinators, but the insects' population crash could also lead to other mosquitos coming with other diseases.
Mueller assures NPR's Rob Stein that the lab the mosquitos are in is very secure, adding that even if the mosquitos did escape they would not be able to survive Italy's climate. "To enter the most secure part of the facility, Mueller punches a security code into a keypad to open a sliding glass door," reports NPR. "As the door seals, a powerful blower makes sure none of the genetically modified mosquitoes inside escape. Anyone entering must don white lab coats to make it easier to spot any mosquitoes that might try to hitch a ride out of the lab and must pass through a second sealed door and blower."
To prevent any unforeseen effects on the environment, scientists have always tried to keep genetically engineered organisms from spreading their mutations. But in this case, researchers want the modification to spread. So they engineered mosquitoes with a "gene drive." A gene drive is like a "selfish gene," says entomologist Ruth Mueller, because it doesn't follow the normal rules of genetics. Normally, traits are passed to only half of all offspring. With the gene drive, nearly all the progeny inherit the modification. Researchers created the mosquitoes by using the powerful new gene-editing technique known as CRISPR, which Mueller likens to a "molecular scissor which can cut at a specific site in the DNA." The cut altered a gene known as "doublesex," which is involved in the sexual development of the mosquitoes. While genetically female, the transformed insects have mouths that resemble male mosquito mouths. That means they can't bite and so can't spread the malaria parasite. In addition, the insects' reproductive organs are deformed, which means they can't lay eggs. As more and more female mosquitoes inherit two copies of the modification, more and more become sterile. Critics fear that these gene-drive mosquitoes could run amok and wreak havoc in the wild. Not only could the insects cause a negative effect on crops by eliminating important pollinators, but the insects' population crash could also lead to other mosquitos coming with other diseases.
Mueller assures NPR's Rob Stein that the lab the mosquitos are in is very secure, adding that even if the mosquitos did escape they would not be able to survive Italy's climate. "To enter the most secure part of the facility, Mueller punches a security code into a keypad to open a sliding glass door," reports NPR. "As the door seals, a powerful blower makes sure none of the genetically modified mosquitoes inside escape. Anyone entering must don white lab coats to make it easier to spot any mosquitoes that might try to hitch a ride out of the lab and must pass through a second sealed door and blower."
The world is going to be transformed over the next few decades by work like this. Problems like malaria will be addressed. The bad news is that these early efforts carry unknown risks the good news is that the work is being done by experts in the field. This sort of work will be accessible to hackers in very few years so lets hope that regulated agencies beat them to it. If you thought the nuclear standoff of the cold war years was bad just wait for the biological equivalent. The genie is out of the bottle now, work like this is as much a part of national defense as hyper-sonic missiles.
Facts are history now plebs have politics for religion on social media.
Using that word in the title implies released into the wild, which is a headline grabber.
Let's get real.
They are tropical mosquitoes. They can't survive outdoors in Italy in February. They also can't interbreed with Italian mosquitoes.
Killing Anopheles (malaria) and Aedes aegypti (yellow fever, dengue, zika) will have little environmental repercussions because other non-vector mosquitoes can fill the same niche. Furthermore, these species are invasive species in many areas, displacing native mosquitoes. So exterminating them can help to restore the natural balance. Many islands, including Hawaii, have no native mosquito species.
Only about 200 of the 3,500 species of mosquitoes even bite man, and of those there are 5 species that spread disease. The ecosystem will do just fine.
They are tropical mosquitoes. They can't survive outdoors in Italy in February.
Those of us who are older might remember similar claims being made about Africanized Honeybees - yes they were wreaking havoc in South America, but they’d never make it past Panama because they couldn’t survive the climate. And they’d never, EVER make it to the US...
#DeleteChrome
We should not be going down that road AT ALL.
Are you willing to volunteer your child to help keep Plasmodium malariae from extinction?
Or are you only against extinction if the victims are black kids in Africa?
Those of us who are older might remember similar claims being made about Africanized Honeybees
I am old enough to remember the "killer bee" hysteria. It was a media phenomena, that had little to do with "science".
And they’d never, EVER make it to the US...
That is not at all what I remember. The media reports were that killer bees were unstoppable and were going to destroy western civilization.
What the scientists were saying is that hybrid bees would likely reach the US around 1990 (accurate) and that it would be no big deal (also accurate).
How many of your friends and neighbors have been victims of "killer bees"?
About 100 Americans die annually from bee stings, mostly due to allergic reactions. Since 1990, that number has gone down.
My intestines aren't prone to religious or political nonsense that would motivate them to do such a thing.
I am not sure what you point is. Are you saying that if the Italian scientists refrain from completing their trails, religious and political terrorists will also agree to refrain from using GMO?
Do you really believe that a gene drive, which takes a generation (roughly 30 years for humans) to move from one person to another, is going to be an effective terrorist weapon?
The food chain isn't a single rope, it is crosslinked and has loops all over the damn place. Anything which eats mosquitos will happily eat a fly and with less mosquitos around there will be more of the flies.
Corn doesn't contain any notable nutrients so how exactly is it supposed to end a famine?
Corn/maize is a good source of many minerals and micronutrients, and even contains reasonable amounts of protein, although it is deficient in lysine. Famine victims can't survive indefinitely on a 100% corn diet, but it has plenty of calories, and when combined with pulses (beans and peas) or supplemented with meat, fish, eggs, or dairy, it is nutritious.
There is more than one type of famine. Kwashiorkor is a type of starvation resulting from a lack of nutrients and protein deficiency, even if calories are adequate. Marasmus is starvation caused by lack of calories. Corn/maize can relieve either.
Mosquitoes are *not* a required part of the food web. If all mosquitoes went extinct today there would be no impact at all on the food web.
"I'm curious. Do you actually know this or just suspect it? Some animals are really, really picky about what they eat (e.g. blue whales only eat krill)."
Look, I tend to be honest and technical to a fault. So that depends on the level of commitment you are looking for. I'm not a biologist and I'm not swearing there isn't a single species anywhere on earth like a particular spider species that only eats this particular mosquito. I don't think a biologist with my level of technical honesty would claim that either because there are undoubtedly millions of species we haven't even discovered. I'm asserting a reasonably educated guess based on logic and not claiming something beyond that. However, I am reasonably confident there will plenty of other spiders which serve the same role in the food chain as that special spider should it exist.
If that isn't true and there is some special bubble ecosystem somewhere (some high slope of a mountain or isolated pocket valley ala arachnophobia) I'm confident it is isolated and small and while I'll shed a single tear for its loss well... there are things that meet that level of significance lost every day. I respect all life but also adopt a certain pragmaticism coupled with that. If a life causes more chaos than peace for other lives at a certain point the best course of action becomes to expel it and sometimes that might be to end it. After all, you end life when you use antibiotic soap.
There are plenty of things done on a daily basis that could have some unexpected or unintended consequence that results in a cascade of problems leading to disaster. I don't think we should make a habit of seeking them out, in fact we should avoid them and hedge slightly on the edge of fault but no further. We should exercise a certain level of caution approaching something to minimize that risk but at some point short of zero is suitably low and there is a high benefit. I'm not a fan of killing off anything but I'm still part of team human and not looking to die of malaria or see others suffer and die and other blood born diseases kill A LOT of humans. Something people may not consider is that a biting mosquito in a populated area is basically the same as an involuntarily shared needle. We may even dodge that issue because we are trying to minimize social stigma on certain groups but there it is.
How long do you think it will be before one gets made with our number on it, intentionally, or not?
Thatâ(TM)s not possible for humans. This works by releasing males with a special mutation (gene drive). Whenever they mate, they will produce offspring with the same mutation even if the mother doesnâ(TM)t carry it. If the offspring are male, they will pass it further down the line. If female, they will be unable to bite or reproduce.
So with each generation, the mutation spreads in the population - any mosquito descended from any of the released ones will have it. After enough generations, every mosquito will have it, because they will have a mutated mosquito somewhere in their family tree. Then they will go extinct. Unless of course someone gets a new mutation that counters this, and then that line survives and takes over instead...
It would be hard to do this with humans because you would need to create and release a bunch of mutants who could produce viable male offspring but unviable female (or vice versa). Thatâ(TM)s hard enough to do without being discovered and stopped, but then youâ(TM)d have to wait enough generations for the mutation to spread through the whole gene pool - maybe 27 if you started with an initial population of 100 and doubled each generation. Meanwhile people would be freaking out and demanding genetic tests before having kids, which would probably shit the mutants out of the gene pool pretty quickly.