Sex change wipes out invasive species
'Trojan chromosomes' enlisted in battle against alien invaders.
Gender-bending chemicals could provide a new way to combat invasive species, say researchers. Originally conceived as a cure for the enormous populations of Asian carp and tilapia plaguing the Mississippi River, scientists now think the approach could be used to battle unwelcome crustaceans, molluscs, fish, amphibians and reptiles around the world.
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Comments
Three clarifications about the information in the article:
1. Third paragraph: "In Florida, tilapia were deliberately introduced to control an aquatic weed, Hydrilla, that has been choking US rivers since the 1960s." This statement corresponds to documented evidence. Nevertheless, there has been debate around that topic since the 70s. For an insightful "letters to the editor" ping-pong, read BioScience, Vol. 25, No. 12. (Dec., 1975), pp. 768-769.
2. Third paragraph: "Two species of snail were also introduced at a later date by the authorities, says Gutierrez, but neither they nor the tilapia chose to feed on Hydrilla, both preferring native species to the invader." In regards to apple snail, the facts are the opposite. Apple snails feed on Hydrilla, but they were not introduced by government.
3. Tenth paragraph: "Gutierrez has joined forces with John Teem of the Florida Department of Agriculture to examine how the strategy might stop the spread of another invasive species — the apple snail — throughout the state's waterways." It is true that Dr. Teem and I work together researching applications of the Trojan sex chromosome strategy. It is also true that we work together in a mathematical model to predict spread of apple snail throughout the State of Florida. However at this moment there are no plans to implement a Trojan sex chromosome with apple snails in Florida.
Additional credits:
The Trojan sex chromosome hypothesis started as a kitchen conversation between Dr. John Teem ad I in the summer of 2004. Our employers have offices in the same floor and we share the kitchen area; I work for Information Systems of Florida, and Dr. Teem works for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS), Division of Aquaculture. In our daily conversations, always scientific in nature, Dr. Teem expressed that he had an idea for invasive species control based upon changing the sex ratio of a population, but *without* the complexity and problems associated with a transgenic organism. Dr. Teem must be credited with the development of the original concept. I jumped in and built the mathematical model for eradication using ordinary differential equations for the XX/XY sex determination system.
The idea was based upon a paper by Nagler describing how sex-reversal of Coho salmon had occurred in a natural system. The paper highlighted how this could lead to an altered sex ratio due to fish containing multiple Y chromosomes, and could possibly cause extinction of the natural population in the future. The YY eradication strategy came about by looking at this process as having useful potential to cause directed extinction of an undesirable nonnative population.)
Posted by: Juan B Gutierrez | July 27, 2007 07:40 PM
Read your PTT presentation on the use of Fyy and Myy to eradicate exotic species. Awsome!!!!
Has this process been put in actual use anywhere?
Posted by: Julio Paredes | January 9, 2009 03:19 PM