ABSTRACT
Gene drives are biological mechanisms that accelerate the transmission of genes. They result in the passing on of gene variants with much higher inheritance rates. Gene transmission increases the respective gene’s frequency between generations, giving the gene an advantage. Zygotic and gametic killers, meiotic drivers, homing endonuclease genes (HEGs), transposable elements, and B chromosomes are some of the genes or genetic elements that show such distortion of the transmission ratio or drive. Different molecular mechanisms underlie gene drives. However, in some of the mechanisms, gene drives can copy themselves onto opposite chromosomes. Some driving genes can spread, although they do not have a useful function for organisms that carry them. The utilization of natural gene drives in spreading genetic variants in a population was first conceptualized over 50 years ago. Synthetic gene drives have wide applicability, although their development has been very modest in the past decade. Gene drives have two key classes of application, which have implications of different significance. Genes within a genome are commonly seen as working together collaboratively to produce a viable organism. Gene drives can be applied in fields such as agriculture, ecosystem conservation, public health, and basic research. They can be used to control or alter organisms carrying infectious diseases such as malaria, dengue, Chagas (American trypanosomiasis), and Lyme disease. In ecosystem conservation, gene drives can be used to control or alter disease-carrying organisms threatening other species’ survival. Gene drives can spread beneficial traits through populations and provide all desired modifications within a population, though for an indefinitely long time. Using gene drive for population management could have lower health, economic, and environmental costs than traditional control methods. Gene drive-mediated pest control can therefore be very attractive for agribusiness because it allows direct manipulation of pest species. This is more complicated to achieve with classical GMO technologies. Safety is not guaranteed. Gene drives can introduce a trait into a species, and this can persist into the environment, possibly causing deleterious effects to the environment. Since this is a new area, there are no reliable means to predict the probability and severity of the adverse events. So it is a risky undertaking with unsecured results. There are concerns that population suppression gene drives might result in the population or species becoming extinct. Additionally, the safety of the environment can be compromised when synthetic gene drives are unintentionally released into the environment. Gene drives are regulated as a way of controlling or governing them. This includes regulating their use, safety, and spread.
