Should we alter the genomes of entire species?

[DavidBrown]

Gene drive technology can be used to permanently alter the genomes of entire species. This technology may have great positive applications like helping eliminate malaria or possibly invasive species like rats in the Galapagos, but it may have profound ecological effects also.

As gene drive technology emerges, the questions about how, or if, it should be used for wildlife conservation are emerging.


The Gene Drive Dilemma: We Can Alter Entire Species, but Should We?

 

[Carl Jones]

Brave New World or the answer to the extinction crisis? Genetically modified species may be the solution we are looking for. Rebooting species by adding genetic diversity and in the future modifying species to become ecological replacements for extinct species.
We need bold approaches for the grave challenges we are facing.

 

[lintworm]

Is this the same technique that is used to make coral species more heat resistant?

 

[KevinB]

Is this the same technique that is used to make coral species more heat resistant?

I believe most if not all of these new ideas and methods are based on the CRISPR-Cas9 technique, which seems to be the new big thing in genetic engineering and the panacea for a lot of issues.

A while ago I read an article in a Belgian science magazine about using CRISPR-Cas9 to modifying related species to become something similar to extinct species (the example was the passenger pigeon and a related pigeon species).

To me all this sounds very science fiction-like - someone already reference Brave New World. There is plenty of potential for unethical use and downright abuse here. While I am not against the use of these techniques, I think their use should be very carefully monitored and regulated

Should we use these methods in wildlife conservation? If they could be helpful and are ethical, sure, why not. But I don't think it should be our first go-to choice.

 

[birdsandbats]

I am 100% against this. It's not our place to by changing other species, and we have no idea what ripple effects it may have. How will this affect the surrounding ecosystem? What if we accidentally kill the species? Or even, somehow, ourselves?

 

[Mr. Zootycoon]

I am 100% against this. It's not our place to by changing other species, and we have no idea what ripple effects it may have. How will this affect the surrounding ecosystem? What if we accidentally kill the species? Or even, somehow, ourselves?

I hope you know what we have changed wild species already severely by our interactions with them - and destroyed many of them completely - without the Gene Drives.

And we are just as unaware of the wider consequences as we would be with Gene Drives.

 

[birdsandbats]

I hope you know what we have changed wild species already severely by our interactions with them - and destroyed many of them completely - without the Gene Drives.

And we are just as unaware of the wider consequences as we would be with Gene Drives.

Of course I am aware of that. I just hope we stop doing it. Gene Drives are a step in the wrong direction.

 

[Kakapo]

Nothing new. New methods, yes, but we already changed forever the genome of entire species by fabricating thousands of domestic animals and after extinct or near-extinct their wild ancestors, for example the aurochs vs. domestic cattle.