RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Daisyfield gene drive systems harness repeated genomic elements as a generational clock to limit spread
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 104877
DO 10.1101/104877
A1 John Min
A1 Charleston Noble
A1 Devora Najjar
A1 Kevin M. Esvelt
YR 2017
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/02/06/104877.abstract
AB Methods of altering wild populations are most useful when inherently limited to local geographic areas. Here we describe a novel form of gene drive based on the introduction of multiple copies of an engineered ‘daisy’ sequence into repeated elements of the genome. Each introduced copy encodes guide RNAs that target one or more engineered loci carrying the CRISPR nuclease gene and the desired traits. When organisms encoding a drive system are released into the environment, each generation of mating with wild-type organisms will reduce the average number of the guide RNA elements per ‘daisyfield’ organism by half, serving as a generational clock. The loci encoding the nuclease and payload will exhibit drive only as long as a single copy remains, placing an inherent limit on the extent of spread.