Data from: Tethered homing gene drives: a new design for spatially restricted population replacement and suppression

Optimism regarding potential epidemiological and conservation applications
of modern gene drives is tempered by concern about the possibility of
unintended spread of engineered organisms beyond the target population. In
response, several novel gene drive approaches have been proposed that can,
under certain conditions, locally alter characteristics of a population.
One challenge for these gene drives is the difficulty of achieving high
levels of localized population suppression without very large releases in
the face of gene flow. We present a new gene drive system, Tethered Homing
(TH), with improved capacity for both localization and population
suppression. The TH drive is based on driving a payload gene using a
homing construct that is anchored to a spatially restricted gene drive. We
use a proof-of-concept mathematical model to show the dynamics of a TH
drive that uses engineered underdominance as an anchor. This system is
composed of a split homing drive and a two-locus engineered underdominance
drive linked to one part of the split drive (the Cas endonuclease). We use
simple population genetic simulations to show that the tethered homing
technique can offer improved localized spread of costly transgenic payload
genes. Additionally, the TH system offers the ability to gradually adjust
the genetic load in a population after the initial alteration, with
minimal additional release effort. We discuss potential solutions for
improving localization and the feasibility of creating TH drive systems.
Further research with models that include additional biological details
will be needed to better understand how TH drives would behave in natural
populations, but the preliminary results shown here suggest that tethered
homing drives can be a useful addition to the repertoire of localized gene
drives.