Caution: you can't stop the chain reaction!
The chain reaction of gene mutations has raised concerns among scientists
Tape.<url> based on the materials of Science: Biologists devise invasion plan for mutationsAmerican scientists have created a new technique for spreading gene mutations, which allows you to bypass the fundamental laws of genetics and pass the mutation to the next generation with an efficiency of 97 percent.
However, the discovery caused great concern in the scientific world: if modified individuals get outside the laboratory, the risk of extermination of entire populations is very high. The new technique is described in the journal Science (Valentino M. Gantz, Ethan Bier, The mutagenic chain reaction: A method for converting heterozygous to homozygous mutations).
The discovery itself happened by accident. Valentino Gantz from the University of California at San Diego wanted to simplify his work on growing fruit flies with the right mutation using the CRISPR genome editing tool (where the synthetic Cas9 protein changes the desired DNA sequence). Ganz suggested that the CRISPR cassette could be enhanced so that a mutation created on one copy of a chromosome would automatically diverge across all the others.
The new method was called mutagenic chain reaction (MCR). It allows any gene to get to 97 percent of individuals already in the second generation. Normally, this indicator can be much lower: for example, if a child has inherited a mutant gene for muscular dystrophy from his mother, a healthy paternal gene may prevent this disease from developing.
Microbiologists who create genetically modified mosquitoes resistant to malaria were most enthusiastic about the new method. MCR will allow their creatures to transfer the desired gene to a large insect population in just one breeding season.
The university authorities agreed to experimental testing of the new method only in a special laboratory, closed behind five doors with fingerprint scanners. However, George Church from Harvard, one of the leading geneticists in the USA, still considers the publication of the article dangerous, since its authors have not prescribed measures that can stop the spread of unwanted mutations.
Scientists are also calling for an international conference to approve a single set of safety rules for MCR. A similar meeting dedicated to genetically modified organisms was held in 1975 (the so-called Asilomar Conference).
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru23.03.2015