The role of advance genomics in conservation biology of endangered species
For my Gene Drive assignment I was very conflicted with the idea of changing something on a species for “selfish” reasons, while trying to come up with an idea of a gene drive that wouldn’t affect their environment or other species in a negative way, I attended to the event: Existential Medicine #5: CRISPR - Edited Humanity in New Lab, in this even I met one of the participants, a Bio Geneticist who works for a pharmaceutical company in Cambridge and before the event started we started talking about the potential of CRISPR, our different backgrounds and how important it was to be able to be part of the conversation, no matter our daily job or education.
During the talk one of the panelists talked about a famous case of CRISPR (famous for other people but it was totally new for me) in which scientists are trying to edit the Cavendish’s (the most consumed species of banana) genome with CRISPR to boost its resilience to TR4 (a deadly fungus), instead of inserting foreign genes. This was fascinating to me, because saving an already existing species, and leaving it the way they are meant that I wouldn’t do any damage to the environment or other plants or animals, however I would be saving the species, in this case, the banana. The conversation in the panel at this point changed to discuss whether or not they would eat a genetically modified banana, and the guest that I have just met in the conference turned to me and said, I believe it would be better to eat a genetically modified banana instead of a banana that has a lot of chemicals and/or contains foreign genes instead of a modification of its own gene (interesting enough, all the panelists agreed that they would 100% eat a banana genetically modified with CRISPR).
At this point I was decided that my Gene Drive assignment was going to be focussed on saving a species in danger of extinction, the only remaining part was to find which species and decide how to use CRISPR to modify one of the alleles in order to be passed with more frequency and be able to propagate the new species in their environment.
Gene Drive: The Pangolin
According to pangolinsg.org Pangolins, or scaly anteaters as they are otherwise known, are unique mammals covered in hard scales, comprised of keratin. They predate almost exclusively on ants and termites and are predominantly nocturnal and elusive, secretive mammals.
The Pangolin
Most pangolins in illicit, international trade end up in China and Vietnam. Here the meat of the animals is consumed as a delicacy, but it is also believed to impart health benefits such as nourishing the kidneys. Despite a lack of evidence suggesting they’re effective, pangolin scales are used as an ingredient in traditional Asian medicine to help breastfeeding women lactate milk, to cure ailments ranging from asthma and psoriasis to cancer, and to improve blood circulation.
-In this remote part of the Central African Republic, poaching for the overseas wildlife trade is not yet widespread, but pangolins are seen as food. They are easy prey; a pangolin’s defence strategy is to roll into a scaly ball (their name comes from the Malay pengguling – “something that rolls up”). This makes it difficult for most predators to eat them but all too convenient for human hands intent on scooping them up and putting them into a sack.- Post Magazine
Defense mechanism
According to the Post Magazine article in April 2019, authorities in Singapore seized nearly 13 tonnes of scales in a container en route from Nigeria to Vietnam, a haul valued at US$38 million. It is estimated 17,000 pangolins would have been killed for this shipment and scales from all four African species were identified. In February, 30 tonnes of frozen pangolins were seized in Sabah, Malaysia’s biggest bust to date, and the previous month, Hong Kong authorities found eight tonnes of scales in a container from Nigeria bound for Vietnam.
One pangolin is poached from the wild every five minutes
My design question for the assignment was, how to prevent the trafficking of Pangolins by genetically modifying al allele with CRISPR? I decided to focus on the flavor factor. Pangolins are trafficked, among other reasons, for the exotic and good taste of their meat. It is sold as a delicatessen which means that people pay high amounts of money to be able to eat something delicious, exotic, that they can’t eat every day. People are willing to pay a lot of money which means that people are willing to remove the Pangolins from their environment and kill them in order for people to try their exotic meat, no matter if they are about to be extinct.
What would happen if a group of scientists using CRISPR where able to genetically modify the pangolin by changing the paste of the meat for human perception? It would have to be a subtle change so that their predators don’t get affected by this change and therefore the food chain remains the same, however it has to be a noticeable enough change so that humans stop trafficking the Pangolin for the taste of their meat.
In this assignment I have decided to use an edible metaphor to exemplify the process of a gene drive in Pangolins and how the offer and demand would change in order for humans to reduce the amount of trafficked species and hopefully save the Pangolins from extinction.
Note: details of the activity will be added after class in order to avoid spoilers!