Suppression gene drive in continuous space can result in unstable persistence of both drive and wild-type alleles.

ABSTRACT: Rapid evolutionary processes can produce drastically different outcomes when studied in panmictic population models vs. spatial models. One such process is gene drive, which describes the spread of "selfish" genetic elements through a population. Engineered gene drives are being considered for the suppression of disease vectors or invasive species. While laboratory experiments and modelling in panmictic populations have shown that such drives can rapidly eliminate a population, it remains unclear if these results translate to natural environments where individuals inhabit a continuous landscape. Using spatially explicit simulations, we show that the release of a suppression drive can result in what we term "chasing" dynamics, in which wild-type individuals recolonize areas where the drive

SUBMITTER: Champer J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7887089 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature