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Gene-drive technology has been employed in India, Brazil, and Panama under carefully controlled outdoor conditions to genetically modify mosquitoes.

Facts About:

• Gene-drive technology is a form of genetic engineering that involves the modification of genes.
• This groundbreaking technique was conceptualized by Professor Austin Burt from Imperial College London.
• Its potential lies in effectively addressing issues posed by pest species, such as malaria-transmitting mosquitoes.
• Rather than adhering strictly to Mendelian genetics principles, this method ensures the selective inheritance of specific genes by mosquitoes.

Here's how it works:

• A protein precisely cleaves the mosquito's DNA at a specific location that doesn't encode a particular sequence in the genome.
• This action triggers a natural cellular mechanism to repair the DNA, compelling the incorporation of a designated sequence known as the 'drive sequence' into the repaired region.