Australia announces US$1.8 million investment in genetic pest control tools

The government of New South Wales, Australia, has announced a US$50 million package for pest control, focusing especially on mice. Approximately US$1.8 million of this investment will go to genetic control tools, including gene drive research.

Paul Thomas, University of Adelaide, explains that scientists are currently researching two gene drives approaches that could potentially cause the mouse population to crash over time. The first approach would affect female fertility, while the so-called “X-shredder” approach would eliminate the sperm carrying the X chromosome, thus leading to the production of more male than female offspring.

Read more at the ABC New England.