Tracking plans to genetically modify wild species
The paper states 'Here, we show that one of these spore-killer elements, Spok1, could be heterologously engineered to eliminate virulence traits from populations of F. graminearum in vitro. We show that Spok1 can be used to distort inheritance at two genomic loci (the TRI gene cluster and ABC1) that control virulence in F. graminearum.' The extent of the technical challenges remaining to turn this into a viable system for modifying fungi in the natural environment is not completely clear. However the authors state in their conclusions 'Although our results showed technical feasibility of engineering natural gene drives in the laboratory, the overarching question of whether natural gene drives can be part of future fungal pathogen control strategies in plants ultimately requires demonstration of the efficacy of such systems under natural settings.' It is therefore possible this system should be at level 6 - full proof of concept in a laboratory.