IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/thpobi/v145y2022icp109-125.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Gene drives and population persistence vs elimination: The impact of spatial structure and inbreeding at low density

Author

Listed:
  • Beaghton, P.J.
  • Burt, Austin

Abstract

Synthetic gene drive constructs are being developed to control disease vectors, invasive species, and other pest species. In a well-mixed random mating population a sufficiently strong gene drive is expected to eliminate a target population, but it is not clear whether the same is true when spatial processes play a role. In species with an appropriate biology it is possible that drive-induced reductions in density might lead to increased inbreeding, reducing the efficacy of drive, eventually leading to suppression rather than elimination, regardless of how strong the drive is. To investigate this question we analyse a series of explicitly solvable stochastic models considering a range of scenarios for the relative timing of mating, reproduction, and dispersal and analyse the impact of two different types of gene drive, a Driving Y chromosome and a homing construct targeting an essential gene. We find in all cases a sufficiently strong Driving Y will go to fixation and the population will be eliminated, except in the one life history scenario (reproduction and mating in patches followed by dispersal) where low density leads to increased inbreeding, in which case the population persists indefinitely, tending to either a stable equilibrium or a limit cycle. These dynamics arise because Driving Y males have reduced mating success, particularly at low densities, due to having fewer sisters to mate with. Increased inbreeding at low densities can also prevent a homing construct from eliminating a population. For both types of drive, if there is strong inbreeding depression, then the population cannot be rescued by inbreeding and it is eliminated. These results highlight the potentially critical role that low-density-induced inbreeding and inbreeding depression (and, by extension, other sources of Allee effects) can have on the eventual impact of a gene drive on a target population.

Suggested Citation

  • Beaghton, P.J. & Burt, Austin, 2022. "Gene drives and population persistence vs elimination: The impact of spatial structure and inbreeding at low density," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 109-125.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:thpobi:v:145:y:2022:i:c:p:109-125
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tpb.2022.02.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040580922000132
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tpb.2022.02.002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Beaghton, Andrea & Beaghton, Pantelis John & Burt, Austin, 2016. "Gene drive through a landscape: Reaction–diffusion models of population suppression and elimination by a sex ratio distorter," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 51-69.
    2. Roberto Galizi & Lindsey A. Doyle & Miriam Menichelli & Federica Bernardini & Anne Deredec & Austin Burt & Barry L. Stoddard & Nikolai Windbichler & Andrea Crisanti, 2014. "A synthetic sex ratio distortion system for the control of the human malaria mosquito," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 5(1), pages 1-8, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Silvia Grilli & Roberto Galizi & Chrysanthi Taxiarchi, 2021. "Genetic Technologies for Sustainable Management of Insect Pests and Disease Vectors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-19, May.
    2. Jie Du & Weizhe Chen & Xihua Jia & Xuejiao Xu & Emily Yang & Ruizhi Zhou & Yuqi Zhang & Matt Metzloff & Philipp W. Messer & Jackson Champer, 2024. "Germline Cas9 promoters with improved performance for homing gene drive," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-14, December.
    3. Stephanie Gamez & Duverney Chaverra-Rodriguez & Anna Buchman & Nikolay P. Kandul & Stelia C. Mendez-Sanchez & Jared B. Bennett & Héctor M. Sánchez C. & Ting Yang & Igor Antoshechkin & Jonny E. Duque &, 2021. "Exploiting a Y chromosome-linked Cas9 for sex selection and gene drive," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-14, December.
    4. Angela Meccariello & Shibo Hou & Serafima Davydova & James Daniel Fawcett & Alexandra Siddall & Philip T. Leftwich & Flavia Krsticevic & Philippos Aris Papathanos & Nikolai Windbichler, 2024. "Gene drive and genetic sex conversion in the global agricultural pest Ceratitis capitata," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    5. Beaghton, Andrea & Beaghton, Pantelis John & Burt, Austin, 2016. "Gene drive through a landscape: Reaction–diffusion models of population suppression and elimination by a sex ratio distorter," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 51-69.
    6. Sebald A. N. Verkuijl & Estela Gonzalez & Ming Li & Joshua X. D. Ang & Nikolay P. Kandul & Michelle A. E. Anderson & Omar S. Akbari & Michael B. Bonsall & Luke Alphey, 2022. "A CRISPR endonuclease gene drive reveals distinct mechanisms of inheritance bias," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    7. Franck Adama Yao & Abdoul-Azize Millogo & Patric Stephane Epopa & Ace North & Florian Noulin & Koulmaga Dao & Mouhamed Drabo & Charles Guissou & Souleymane Kekele & Moussa Namountougou & Robert Kossiv, 2022. "Mark-release-recapture experiment in Burkina Faso demonstrates reduced fitness and dispersal of genetically-modified sterile malaria mosquitoes," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.
    8. Rocco D’Amato & Chrysanthi Taxiarchi & Marco Galardini & Alessandro Trusso & Roxana L. Minuz & Silvia Grilli & Alastair G. T. Somerville & Dammy Shittu & Ahmad S. Khalil & Roberto Galizi & Andrea Cris, 2024. "Anti-CRISPR Anopheles mosquitoes inhibit gene drive spread under challenging behavioural conditions in large cages," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    9. Daniella An Haber & Yael Arien & Lee Benjamin Lamdan & Yehonathan Alcalay & Chen Zecharia & Flavia Krsticevic & Elad Shmuel Yonah & Rotem Daniel Avraham & Elzbieta Krzywinska & Jaroslaw Krzywinski & E, 2024. "Targeting mosquito X-chromosomes reveals complex transmission dynamics of sex ratio distorting gene drives," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:thpobi:v:145:y:2022:i:c:p:109-125. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/intelligence .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.