Breakthrough genetic biocontrol research under the NSW government’s $50 million mouse control package could transform pest management Australia wide.
Minister for Agriculture Adam Marshall said the NSW government would provide $1.8 million towards the project to fast-track the delivery of next generation ‘gene drive’ technology to control the plagues of the future.
The three-year program of genetic biocontrol research will identify fast acting gene drives which are designed to spread an inherited characteristic through a population at higher-than-normal rates.
Mr Marshall said it would also investigate the transferability of the technology to other pest species such as black rats, rabbits and feral cats using advanced computer modeling.
“Using targeted gene drives, scientists aim to interrupt the breeding cycle of mice and keep populations at manageable levels,” Mr Marshall said.
Mice are prolific breeders and their numbers multiply exponentially in good seasons.
The research will test two strategies for population control and recommend at least one for future suppression of invasive mice.
The strategies include:
- The ‘X-shredder’ approach which eliminates sperm carrying the X chromosome, producing more male than female offspring; and
- The ‘female infertility’ approach which initially spreads through the population.
Once the population is saturated with the genetic modification, all the females that are generated will be infertile.
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