The emerging science of gene drives by a protein working rapid, promises human control greater than ever before but smaller than future over the traits and environmental effects of non-human organisms. At present, perhaps we may exeggerate the power of this new editing technology emerging after recombinant DNA technology, in 2014. We should keep in mind the experience of frustrating situation of genome project after its completion. The hopes by far exceeded the level of success in applying cure by inserting or deleting one or a couple of genes. So in my eyes, we should assume us rather being in a transition period of a possible victory of science over our and nature’s challanges. Actually bacteria, and fungi use their genetic alteration, their own “genetic engineering rights” to control part of ecosystems on which they have role, or influenced by the entire ecosystem in which they found. For example, production of polypeptide antibiotics, mold of decaying apple, both represent secondary metabolites, having ecological, and evolutionary functions. Beyond being disturbing ruler of natural ecosystems, humans are also a kind of species like those living in natural ecosystems, mosquito, viruses, lichens, wild large mammalians, trees though living in artificial urban ecosystems, so why don’t protect themselves like others, e.g. apple? In fact, the fungi Candida is a big threat for humans, and wildlife species, I have seen a dramatic photograph of a certain snake infected by Candids aureus, really terrible! Therefore we are obliged to protect us, from fungus infection, particularly in South Corea, Georgia, and California together with snakes in case we are responsible to protect present state of ecosystems, wildlife and future generations by the aid of gene editing engineering, as future generations would not be able to reproduced from today’s mortal, and morbid infected individuals. In addition, although we cannot see by the naked-eye countless numbers of bacteria, the bacteriophages arranging their new genetic compositions via directing transformation, sexduction, and the others. When we visualise all these processes occurring in the world, to receive an overall idea, human interference could be considered just like what phages transfer plasmids, only at another scale, taking place a much larger scale. In other words, perhaps bacteria may have no purpose to protect nature as Candida does. With the result that each species has its own ethical right to protect itself for survival, listed from prokaryotes to eukaryotes. Moreover, medical practise, pharmacy, nursery are some of the strategic survival tools of Homo sapiens in the largest ecosystem biosphere. Another point I would like to mention is that the challenging load over people accumulated through past events the world lived which enforce us to searching remedies timely in order to protect people and the other species whose existence depend on humans, domesticated animals having their own rights while living together with people. Also production, that is emergence of future generations depends on our situation, so they also have not only rights but responsibility sharing with us when present ethical principles are being established. We must find new antibiotics against multiple resistant hospital nosocomial infection bacteria to save people, dogs, cats, veterinary animals. When we establish a new ethics, like eugenics we so far used to its context, we should take people contribution already proved by our national parks, biosphere reserves, and other protected areas biodiversity conservation efforts, farm and pet animals husbandry into account. We should apply gene drive technology to edit life, in a way only to protect our species, wild species, and domesticated species in terms of a larger scale open hospital medical practise, because the threats aroused by nature over us obliged us behave so. That’s why, this does not mean “life editing”, a big and surrealistic aim, but life saving, rather humble, and limited term, urgently needed compared to former. Still I am not sure the so-called editing power of human beings by having merely this fasg gene editing tool. So many of us may explore other dimensions of biosphere editing. For example, marine and ocean scientists know more on about the brain of the world a network of flows acting as the central nervous system, which maybe combined with our genetic engineering exonuclease, endonuclease, polymerase restriction enzymes knowledge to see the other dimensions.
Life editing for live saving
- By Eyup Yuksel
706 total words
3 minutes of reading

- Published March 28, 2018