Synthetic species made to shun sex with wild organisms

A team of scientists has used the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing tool to alter the expression of the target genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. As a result, the levels of a protein called actin raised and made the cells explode.

With a system of poison-antidote, they have created a strain that cannot produce offspring successfully with their wild counterparts.

This technology could be used to avoid genetic exchange between wild plants (crops and weeds) and the modified ones. Moreover, these synthetic species could be used to fight against pests and invasive species.

The authors said that this technology is going to be developed in more organisms like fruit flies, plants, mosquitoes, nematodes and zebrafish.

This article has been published in Nature. Here is the link: