
The promise and peril of gene drives - prostoalex
https://www.economist.com/briefing/2018/11/08/the-promise-and-peril-of-gene-drives
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mangoleaf
I am of the opinion of nuking blood sucking insects - major vectors of
terrible diseases. Nature will find a way to fill in the food-tree. Yale
University is discussing these issues from various angles [1]

[1][https://environment.yale.edu/news/article/editing-nature-
a-c...](https://environment.yale.edu/news/article/editing-nature-a-call-for-
careful-oversight-of-environmental-gene-editing)

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inciampati
In most cases, evolution is going to win out over gene drives. They will be
disabled, selected against, dropped out and worked around. Finding a gene
drive that would truly wipe out a population is similar to finding a virus
that would do the same. This appears to be very low. The population sizes of
insects like anopheles mosquitoes mean that there will be ample chance for the
species to find a way around the gene drive. The rate of evolution is
proportional to population size and the selective coefficient, which are both
huge in this case.

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folli
That's true in the long run, however in shorter time frames there's no reason
that a gene drive couldn't establish itself in a local population.

You bring up viruses; the aim of a virus is survival, and wiping out its host
is counterproductive. The most successful viruses are usually comparatively
docile to prolong carriage (most extreme examples are endogenous
retroviruses).

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godelmachine
Link is paywalled. Reckon I had more than my 3 articles this week. Anyone has
a free link?

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ttul
Might I suggest opening the link in an incognito window?

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godelmachine
That worked this time. Thanks :)

