Gene drive-mediated population elimination for biodiversity conservation. When you come to a fork in the road, take it
Background
Gene drive occurs when alleles of genes, multigene cassettes, or large chromosomal regions are transmitted to fertile progeny at greater-than-Mendelian frequencies (50%). Gene drive can be used to bring about population suppression or elimination when the rate at which the drive element increases in frequency outpaces a fitness cost induced by its presence, and the population is driven to an unfit state. Much work has focused on applications involving mosquito vectors of human disease. Many other applications have their origin in the global problem of invasive species, and thinking about how to ameliorate the many harms they are associated with: food insecurity, human disease, economic loss, environmental degradation, and loss of biodiversity.
Hay, B. A., & Guo, M. (2022). Gene drive-mediated population elimination for biodiversity conservation. When you come to a fork in the road, take it. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(51), e2218020119.