But natural populations of mosquitoes probably number in millions/billions and t... | Hacker News

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		raducu on Jan 29, 2020 \| parent \| context \| favorite \| on: Genetically engineered moth is released into an op... But natural populations of mosquitoes probably number in millions/billions and the don't have the mutation. How can you release a handful of lab mosquitoes into the wild and reduce the population by 90%? Shouldn't only their descendants die?

Enginerrrd on Jan 30, 2020 | [–]

>Shouldn't only their descendants die?

You are in for an exciting and sort of terrifying read:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_drive

nmca on Jan 29, 2020 | [–]

Indeed a germline modification to produce only male offspring would do it. Children of men, and all that.

Accujack on Jan 29, 2020 | [–]

They're turning the moths gay!

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