Rodent gene drives for conservation: opportunities and data needs.

ABSTRACT: Invasive rodents impact biodiversity, human health and food security worldwide. The biodiversity impacts are particularly significant on islands, which are the primary sites of vertebrate extinctions and where we are reaching the limits of current control technologies. Gene drives may represent an effective approach to this challenge, but knowledge gaps remain in a number of areas. This paper is focused on what is currently known about natural and developing synthetic gene drive systems in mice, some key areas where key knowledge gaps exist, findings in a variety of disciplines relevant to those gaps and a brief consideration of how engagement at the regulatory, stakeholder and community levels can accompany and contribute to this effort. Our primary species focus is the house mouse, Mu

SUBMITTER: Godwin J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6842857 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature