Slow and steady wins the race: Spatial and stochastic processes and the failure of suppression gene drives.

ABSTRACT: Gene drives that skew sex ratios offer a new management tool to suppress or eradicate pest populations. Early models and empirical work suggest that these suppression drives can completely eradicate well-mixed populations, but models that incorporate stochasticity and space (i.e. drift and recolonization events) often result in loss or failure of the drive. We developed a stochastic model to examine these processes in a simple one-dimensional space. This simple space allows us to map the events and outcomes that emerged and examine how properties of the drive's wave of invasion affect outcomes. Our simulations, across a biologically realistic section of parameter space, suggest that drive failure might be a common outcome in spatially explicit, stochastic systems, and that properties of th

SUBMITTER: Paril JF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9541681 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature