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Applied mathematicians and physicists used mathematical modeling to guide the design and distribution of genetically modified genes that can both effectively replace wild mosquitos and be safely controlled. In the normal course of evolution, any specific trait has only a modest chance of being inherited by offspring.
But, with the development of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing system, researchers can now design systems that increase the likelihood of inheritance of a desired trait to nearly 100 percent, even if that trait confers a selective disadvantage. According to one of the scientists, this research illustrates how they can build on results of biological experimentation and theory to contribute to the growing field of spatial population genetics.Image credit: Hidenori Tanaka/Harvard
