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A controversial technology that changes the DNA of entire species just took a step towards use

redheads lucy ricardo
Doug Benz / Reuters

Of all the possible applications for a still-new, revolutionary gene editing technology that's frequently described as something that will reshape the world, one of the most intriguing — but controversial — is the ability to create what's known as a gene drive system.

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Now a prominent group of experts has officially endorsed ongoing research toward making this "God-like" power a reality.

Simply put, a gene drive allows scientists to fundamentally alter the DNA of some members of species in such a way that the change they've made will then spread to the rest of the population.

Instead of sometimes passing on this new trait, like humans do with characteristics like red hair, this newly engineered trait will always be passed on, altering not just individual creatures but an entire species. (To be clear, no one is proposing turning all humans into redheads.)

Scientists have contemplated using this technology to make it so that mosquitoes can't carry and pass on malaria anymore, or even to wipe out whole populations of mosquitoes (via mass sterilization) — a topic that's come up again recently as a possible way to control the spread of Zika. Others are considering trying to use it to make mice that can't be infected with Lyme disease, which could stop that illness from spreading to the ticks that then infect humans.

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Still, changing the nature of life itself would transform ecosystems in a way that could be difficult if not impossible to reverse.

Now, a major new report ("Gene Drives on the Horizon") by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine offers support for continuing research and even conducting field trials with gene drives.

The report concludes that the potential benefits of gene drives are important enough that researchers should test them, though more research will be needed before actually releasing a gene drive system into the wild.

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The National Academies experts studied the issue for a year before issuing the report, and even though it suggests only a cautious push forward, the decision will be controversial.

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MIT Media Lab Professor Kevin Esvelt, who first realized that the gene-editing technology CRISPR could create gene drives in the first place, has described the controversy to MIT Technology Review's Antonio Regalado by asking, "Do you really have the right to run an experiment where if you screw up, it affects the whole world?"

Still, Esvelt mostly agrees with the National Academies guidelines for proceeding with this research.

"If I had to pick a single take-home, it would be that a one-size-fits-all approach will not work with gene drives because outcomes will depend on the organism, the type of alteration, the ecosystem, and affected communities," he tells the Genetic Experts News Service (GENeS).

Still Esvelt has one major issue with the guidelines, as they don't explicitly require scientists to publicly disclose these experiments before conducting them.

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"Everything in the Academy report points to this same conclusion about public disclosure. They just don’t explicitly acknowledge it," he tells GENeS. "And that’s a pity, because gene drive systems are intrinsically about altering the shared environment. We should at the very least have the courtesy to inform people what is being planned – and let them voice their opinions – before we begin."

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