Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 3, 2025

Population Replacement Strategies for Controlling Vector Populations and the Use of Wolbachia pipientis for Genetic Drive
Published on: July 4, 2007
Engineered reproductively isolated species drive reversible population replacement
Anna Buchman1, Isaiah Shriner1, Ting Yang1
1Division of Biological Sciences, Section of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA.
Abstract:
Engineered reproductive species barriers are useful for impeding gene flow and driving desirable genes into wild populations in a reversible threshold-dependent manner. However, methods to generate synthetic barriers are lacking in advanced eukaryotes. Here, to overcome this challenge, we engineer SPECIES (Synthetic Postzygotic barriers Exploiting CRISPR-based Incompatibilities for Engineering Species), an engineered genetic incompatibility approach, to generate postzygotic reproductive barriers. Using this approach, we create multiple reproductively isolated SPECIES and demonstrate their reproductive isolation and threshold-dependent gene drive capabilities in D. melanogaster. Given the near-universal functionality of CRISPR tools, this approach should be portable to many species, including insect disease vectors in which confinable gene drives could be of great practical utility.
Related Concept Videos
Genetic Drift
Conservative Site-specific Recombination and Phase Variation
The recognition sites for Cre recombinase called LoxP...
In-vitro Mutagenesis
Mutation, Gene Flow, and Genetic Drift
What is a Species?
Gene Conversion

