Gene drives for vertebrate pest control: Realistic spatial modelling of eradication probabilities and times for island mouse populations.

ABSTRACT: Invasive alien species continue to threaten global biodiversity. CRISPR-based gene drives, which can theoretically spread through populations despite imparting a fitness cost, could be used to suppress or eradicate pest populations. We develop an individual-based, spatially explicit, stochastic model to simulate the ability of CRISPR-based homing and X chromosome shredding drives to eradicate populations of invasive house mice (Mus muculus) from islands. Using the model, we explore the interactive effect of the efficiency of the drive constructs and the spatial ecology of the target population on the outcome of a gene-drive release. We also consider the impact of polyandrous mating and sperm competition, which could compromise the efficacy of some gene-drive strategies. Our results show th

SUBMITTER: Birand A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9303646 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature