Gene editing can now change an entire species -- forever | Jennifer Kahn

Prevodilac: Milenka Okuka Lektor: Mile Živković

So this is a talk about gene drives,

Dakle, ovo je govor o genetskom pogonu,

but I'm going to start by telling you a brief story.

ali ću početi tako što ću vam ispričati kratku priču.

20 years ago, a biologist named Anthony James

Pre 20 godina, biolog po imenu Entoni Džejms

got obsessed with the idea of making mosquitos

je postao opsednut idejom stvaranja komaraca

that didn't transmit malaria.

koji ne prenose malariju.

It was a great idea, and pretty much a complete failure.

To je bila sjajna zamisao i gotovo potpuni fijasko.

For one thing, it turned out to be really hard

Ako ništa drugo, ispostavilo se da je veoma teško

to make a malaria-resistant mosquito.

stvoriti komarca otpornog na malariju.

James managed it, finally, just a few years ago,

Džejms je uspeo konačno u tome pre samo nekoliko godina,

by adding some genes that make it impossible

dodajući neke gene koji onemogućavaju

for the malaria parasite to survive inside the mosquito.

malaričnom parazitu da preživi u komarcu.

But that just created another problem.

No to je samo stvorilo drugi problem.

Now that you've got a malaria-resistant mosquito,

Sad kad imate komarca otpornog na malariju,

how do you get it to replace all the malaria-carrying mosquitos?

kako da postignete da on zameni sve komarce nosioce malarije?

There are a couple options,

Imate nekoliko opcija,

but plan A was basically to breed up

ali je plan A u suštini bio uzgoj

a bunch of the new genetically-engineered mosquitos

gomile novih genetski dizajniranih komaraca,

release them into the wild

njihovo puštanje u divljinu

and hope that they pass on their genes.

i nadanje da će da prenesu svoje gene.

The problem was that you'd have to release

Problem je bio to što biste morali da pustite

literally 10 times the number of native mosquitos to work.

bukvalno 10 puta više tih komaraca nego što ima domaćih, da bi funkcionisalo.

So in a village with 10,000 mosquitos,

Pa biste u selu sa 10.000 komaraca,

you release an extra 100,000.

pustili dodatnih 100.000.

As you might guess,

Kao što pretpostavljate,

this was not a very popular strategy with the villagers.

ovo nije bila naročito popularna strategija među seljanima.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

Then, last January, Anthony James got an email

Potom je prošlog januara Entoni Džejms primio mejl

from a biologist named Ethan Bier.

od biologa po imenu Itan Bir.

Bier said that he and his grad student Valentino Gantz

Bir je rekao da su on i njegov student Valentino Ganc

had stumbled on a tool that could not only guarantee

nabasali na oruđe koje ne samo da garantuje

that a particular genetic trait would be inherited,

da će određena genetska osobina da bude nasledna,

but that it would spread incredibly quickly.

već i da će se ona širiti neverovatno brzo.

If they were right, it would basically solve the problem

Ako su u pravu, to bi u suštini rešilo problem

that he and James had been working on for 20 years.

na kome su on i Džejms radili proteklih 20 godina.

As a test, they engineered two mosquitos to carry the anti-malaria gene

Kao probu, dizajnirali su dva komarca da nose antimalarični gen

and also this new tool, a gene drive,

kao i ovo novo oruđe, genetski pogon,

which I'll explain in a minute.

koje ću ubrzo da objasnim.

Finally, they set it up so that any mosquitos

Konačno, podesili su to tako da bilo koji komarac

that had inherited the anti-malaria gene

koji je nasledio antimalarični gen

wouldn't have the usual white eyes, but would instead have red eyes.

nema uobičajene bele oči, već da umesto toga ima crvene oči.

That was pretty much just for convenience

To je prosto bilo radi praktičnosti

so they could tell just at a glance which was which.

kako bi na prvi pogled mogli da kažu koji je koji.

So they took their two anti-malarial, red-eyed mosquitos

Pa su uzeli svoja dva antimalarična, crvenooka komarca

and put them in a box with 30 ordinary white-eyed ones,

i stavili su ih u kutiju sa 30 običnih belookih

and let them breed.

da se razmnožavaju.

In two generations, those had produced 3,800 grandchildren.

Za dve generacije proizveli su 3.800 unučadi.

That is not the surprising part.

To nije iznenađujući deo.

This is the surprising part:

Ovo je iznenađujući deo:

given that you started with just two red-eyed mosquitos

kako ste počeli samo sa dva crvenooka komarca

and 30 white-eyed ones,

i 30 belookih,

you expect mostly white-eyed descendants.

očekivali biste većinu belookih potomaka.

Instead, when James opened the box,

Umesto toga, kad je Džejms otvorio kutiju,

all 3,800 mosquitos had red eyes.

svih 3.800 komaraca je imalo crvene oči.

When I asked Ethan Bier about this moment,

Kad sam upitala Itana Bira o ovom momentu,

he became so excited that he was literally shouting into the phone.

toliko je bio uzbuđen da je bukvalno vikao preko telefona.

That's because getting only red-eyed mosquitos

Zato što dobijanje samo crvenookih komaraca

violates a rule that is the absolute cornerstone of biology,

narušava zakon koji je apsolutni temelj biologije,

Mendelian genetics.

Mendelovu genetiku.

I'll keep this quick,

Sažeto ću o ovome,

but Mendelian genetics says when a male and a female mate,

ali Mendelova genetika kaže da kada se mužjak i ženka pare,

their baby inherits half of its DNA from each parent.

njihova beba nasleđuje polovinu DNK od oba roditelja.

So if our original mosquito was aa and our new mosquito is aB,

Pa, ako je naš prvobitni komarac aa, a naš novi komarac je aB,

where B is the anti-malarial gene,

gde je B antimalarični gen,

the babies should come out in four permutations:

bebe bi trebalo da dolaze s četiri permutacije:

aa, aB, aa, Ba.

aa, aB, aa, Ba.

Instead, with the new gene drive,

Umesto toga, novim genetskim pogonom,

they all came out aB.

svi su bili aB.

Biologically, that shouldn't even be possible.

Biološki, to ne bi trebalo uopšte da bude moguće.

So what happened?

Pa šta se desilo?

The first thing that happened

Prvo što se desilo

was the arrival of a gene-editing tool known as CRISPR in 2012.

je nastanak 2012. oruđa za redigovanje gena poznatog kao CRISPR.

Many of you have probably heard about CRISPR,

Mnogi od vas ste verovatno čuli za CRISPR,

so I'll just say briefly that CRISPR is a tool that allows researchers

pa ću ukratko reći da je CRISPR oruđe koje omogućuje istraživačima

to edit genes very precisely, easily and quickly.

da rediguju gene veoma precizno, lako i brzo.

It does this by harnessing a mechanism that already existed in bacteria.

On to radi po uzoru na mehanizam koji već postoji kod bakterija.

Basically, there's a protein that acts like a scissors

U suštini, imamo protein koji se ponaša poput makaza

and cuts the DNA,

i seče DNK,

and there's an RNA molecule that directs the scissors

a jedan molekul RNK upravlja makazama

to any point on the genome you want.

do bilo koje željene tačke genoma.

The result is basically a word processor for genes.

Rezultat je u suštini procesor reči za gene.

You can take an entire gene out, put one in,

Možete da izvadite čitav gen, ubacite drugi,

or even edit just a single letter within a gene.

ili čak da redigujete samo jedno slovo unutar gena.

And you can do it in nearly any species.

A možete to da uradite skoro kod svih vrsta.

OK, remember how I said that gene drives originally had two problems?

U redu, setite se kako sam rekla da je genetski pogon imao dva problema?

The first was that it was hard to engineer a mosquito

Prvi je bio to što je teško stvoriti komarca

to be malaria-resistant.

da bude otporan na malariju.

That's basically gone now, thanks to CRISPR.

To je prosto nestalo, zahvaljujući CRISPR-u.

But the other problem was logistical.

No drugi problem je bio logistički.

How do you get your trait to spread?

Kako da uspete u širenju željene osobine?

This is where it gets clever.

Ovde je mudrolija.

A couple years ago, a biologist at Harvard named Kevin Esvelt

Pre nekoliko godina, biolog na Harvardu po imenu Kevin Esvelt

wondered what would happen

se zapitao šta bi se desilo

if you made it so that CRISPR inserted not only your new gene

kad biste postigli da CRISPR umetne ne samo novi gen,

but also the machinery that does the cutting and pasting.

već i mehanizam koji obavlja sečenje i lepljenje.

In other words, what if CRISPR also copied and pasted itself.

Drugim rečima, šta ako bi CRISPR takođe kopirao i lepio samog sebe.

You'd end up with a perpetual motion machine for gene editing.

Dobili biste mašinu koja konstantno izvršava redigovanje gena.

And that's exactly what happened.

A upravo to se desilo.

This CRISPR gene drive that Esvelt created

Ovaj CRISPR genetski pogon koji je stvorio Esvelt,

not only guarantees that a trait will get passed on,

ne samo da garantuje da će osobina da se prenese,

but if it's used in the germline cells,

već, ako se koristi unutar embrionskih ćelija,

it will automatically copy and paste your new gene

on će automatski da kopira i lepi vaš novi gen

into both chromosomes of every single individual.

u oba hromozoma svakog pojedinca.

It's like a global search and replace,

To je poput globalne potrage i zamene,

or in science terms, it makes a heterozygous trait homozygous.

ili naučnim rečnikom, heterozigotska osobina postaje homozigotska.

So, what does this mean?

Pa, šta ovo znači?

For one thing, it means we have a very powerful,

Ako ništa drugo, znači da imamo veoma moćno,

but also somewhat alarming new tool.

ali takođe unekoliko uznemirujuće novo oruđe.

Up until now, the fact that gene drives didn't work very well

Sve do sad je činjenica da genetski pogoni ne rade kako treba

was actually kind of a relief.

bila nekako umirujuća.

Normally when we mess around with an organism's genes,

Obično kad se mešamo u gene nekog organizma,

we make that thing less evolutionarily fit.

to nešto postaje evolucijski lošije uklopljeno.

So biologists can make all the mutant fruit flies they want

Pa biolozi mogu da stvore koliko god žele mušica mutanata

without worrying about it.

i da ne brinu zbog toga.

If some escape, natural selection just takes care of them.

Ako neke pobegnu, prirodna selekcija će da se postara za njih.

What's remarkable and powerful and frightening about gene drives

Zapanjujuće, moćno i zastrašujuće kod genetskog pogona

is that that will no longer be true.

je što ovo više neće biti tačno.

Assuming that your trait does not have a big evolutionary handicap,

Pod pretpostavkom da vaša osobina nema veliki evolucijski nedostatak,

like a mosquito that can't fly,

poput komarca koji ne leti,

the CRISPR-based gene drive will spread the change relentlessly

genetski pogon zasnovan na CRISPR-u će neumorno da širi promenu,

until it is in every single individual in the population.

dok ne bude u svakom pojedinačnom članu populacije.

Now, it isn't easy to make a gene drive that works that well,

Sad, nije lako stvoriti genetski pogon koji tako dobro radi,

but James and Esvelt think that we can.

ali Džejms i Esvelt misle da možemo.

The good news is that this opens the door to some remarkable things.

Dobre vesti su da ovo otvara vrata nekim izvanrednim stvarima.

If you put an anti-malarial gene drive

Ako ubacite antimalarični genetski pogon

in just 1 percent of Anopheles mosquitoes,

u samo jedan procenat komaraca Anopheles,

the species that transmits malaria,

vrstu koja prenosi malariju,

researchers estimate that it would spread to the entire population in a year.

istraživači procenjuju da bi se za godinu proširio u čitavoj populaciji.

So in a year, you could virtually eliminate malaria.

Pa biste za godinu dana praktično eliminisali malariju.

In practice, we're still a few years out from being able to do that,

U praksi, još uvek smo nekoliko godina daleko od te mogućnosti,

but still, a 1,000 children a day die of malaria.

ali ipak, 1.000 dece dnevno umre od malarije.

In a year, that number could be almost zero.

Za godinu bi taj broj mogao da bude skoro nula.

The same goes for dengue fever, chikungunya, yellow fever.

Isto se odnosi na groznicu denga, virus čikungunja, žutu groznicu.

And it gets better.

I sve je bolje.

Say you want to get rid of an invasive species,

Recimo da želite da se rešite invazivne vrste,

like get Asian carp out of the Great Lakes.

poput azijskog šarana iz Velikih jezera.

All you have to do is release a gene drive

Samo treba da oslobodite genetski pogon

that makes the fish produce only male offspring.

zbog koga bi riba proizvodila samo muške potomke.

In a few generations, there'll be no females left, no more carp.

Za nekoliko generacija, ne bi bilo ženki, ne bi bilo više šarana.

In theory, this means we could restore hundreds of native species

U teoriji, to znači da bismo mogli da vratimo stotine autohtonih vrsta

that have been pushed to the brink.

koje su dovedene do ivice.

OK, that's the good news,

U redu, to su dobre vesti,

this is the bad news.

ovo su loše vesti.

Gene drives are so effective

Genetski pogoni su toliko efikasni

that even an accidental release could change an entire species,

da bi čak i nenamerno oslobađanje moglo da izmeni celokupnu vrstu

and often very quickly.

i često veoma brzo.

Anthony James took good precautions.

Entoni Džejms je vodio računa.

He bred his mosquitos in a bio-containment lab

Uzgajao je komarce u biozadržavajućoj laboratoriji

and he also used a species that's not native to the US

i takođe je koristio vrstu koja nije autohtono američka

so that even if some did escape,

pa čak i da su neki pobegli,

they'd just die off, there'd be nothing for them to mate with.

prosto bi uginuli, ne bi imali sa čime da se pare.

But it's also true that if a dozen Asian carp with the all-male gene drive

No takođe je istina

da ako bi desetak azijskih šarana sa samo muškim genetskim pogonom

accidentally got carried from the Great Lakes back to Asia,

slučajno bilo vraćeno iz Velikih jezera u Aziju,

they could potentially wipe out the native Asian carp population.

potencijalno bi mogli da izbrišu autohtonu populaciju azijskog šarana.

And that's not so unlikely, given how connected our world is.

A to nije toliko nemoguće, s obzirom na povezanost našeg sveta.

In fact, it's why we have an invasive species problem.

Zapravo, zato i imamo problem s invazivnim vrstama.

And that's fish.

A radi se o ribi.

Things like mosquitos and fruit flies,

Stvari poput komaraca i vinskih mušica

there's literally no way to contain them.

bukvalno nemamo način da obuzdamo.

They cross borders and oceans all the time.

Sve vreme prelaze granice i okeane.

OK, the other piece of bad news

U redu, drugi deo loših vesti

is that a gene drive might not stay confined

je da genetski pogon možda ne ostane ograničen

to what we call the target species.

onim što nazivamo ciljnim vrstama.

That's because of gene flow,

A to je zbog protoka gena,

which is a fancy way of saying that neighboring species

što je kitnjast način da se kaže da se susedne vrste

sometimes interbreed.

ponekad međusobno pare.

If that happens, it's possible a gene drive could cross over,

Ako se to desi, moguće je da se genetski pogon prenese,

like Asian carp could infect some other kind of carp.

npr, azijski šaran može da zarazi druge vrste šarana.

That's not so bad if your drive just promotes a trait, like eye color.

To nije tako loše, ako pogon samo promoviše osobinu, poput boje očiju.

In fact, there's a decent chance that we'll see

Zapravo, postoje skromne šanse da ćemo da vidimo

a wave of very weird fruit flies in the near future.

talas veoma čudnih vinskih mušica u skorijoj budućnosti.

But it could be a disaster

Ali katastrofalno je

if your drive is deigned to eliminate the species entirely.

ako je pogon osmišljen da u potpunosti eliminiše vrstu.

The last worrisome thing is that the technology to do this,

Poslednja zabrinjavajuća stvar je da je tehnologija za ovo,

to genetically engineer an organism and include a gene drive,

za genetski inženjering organizma i uključivanje genetskog pogona,

is something that basically any lab in the world can do.

nešto što u suštini svaka laboratorija u svetu može da napravi.

An undergraduate can do it.

Student to može da uradi.

A talented high schooler with some equipment can do it.

Talentovani srednjoškolac s nešto opreme može to da uradi.

Now, I'm guessing that this sounds terrifying.

Sad, pretpostavljam da ovo zvuči zastrašujuće.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

Interestingly though, nearly every scientist I talk to

Zanimljivo je pak, da skoro svaki naučnik s kojim razgovaram

seemed to think that gene drives were not actually that frightening or dangerous.

čini se da misli kako genetski pogoni zapravo i nisu toliko strašni, ni opasni.

Partly because they believe that scientists will be

Delimično jer veruju da će naučnici da budu

very cautious and responsible about using them.

veoma oprezni i odgovorni kod njihove upotrebe.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

So far, that's been true.

Do sad je to bilo tako.

But gene drives also have some actual limitations.

Ali genetski pogoni takođe imaju neka stvarna ograničenja.

So for one thing, they work only in sexually reproducing species.

Kao na primer, funkcionišu jedino kod vrsta koje se razmnožavaju seksualno.

So thank goodness, they can't be used to engineer viruses or bacteria.

Pa, srećom, ne mogu da se koriste za pravljenje virusa ili bakterija.

Also, the trait spreads only with each successive generation.

Takođe, ciljana osobina se širi jedino kod svake naredne generacije.

So changing or eliminating a population

Pa je izmena ili eliminacija populacije

is practical only if that species has a fast reproductive cycle,

praktična jedino ako ta vrsta ima brz reproduktivni ciklus,

like insects or maybe small vertebrates like mice or fish.

poput insekata ili pak manjih kičmenjaka, miševa ili riba.

In elephants or people, it would take centuries

Kod slonova ili ljudi, trebalo bi vekovi da prođu

for a trait to spread widely enough to matter.

da bi se osobina proširila dovoljno da ima značaj.

Also, even with CRISPR, it's not that easy to engineer a truly devastating trait.

Takođe, čak ni uz CRISPR nije tako lako proizvesti istinski razornu osobinu.

Say you wanted to make a fruit fly

Recimo da želite stvoriti vinsku mušicu

that feeds on ordinary fruit instead of rotting fruit,

koja se hrani običnim voćem, a ne trulim voćem,

with the aim of sabotaging American agriculture.

u cilju sabotiranja američke poljoprivrede.

First, you'd have to figure out

Prvo biste morali da otkrijete

which genes control what the fly wants to eat,

koji geni kontrolišu šta mušica želi da jede,

which is already a very long and complicated project.

a to je već dug i složen projekat.

Then you'd have to alter those genes to change the fly's behavior

Potom biste morali da izmenite te gene zarad izmene mušicinog ponašanja

to whatever you'd want it to be,

u ono koje je poželjno za vas,

which is an even longer and more complicated project.

a to je čak i duži i još složeniji projekat.

And it might not even work,

A možda čak i ne uspete

because the genes that control behavior are complex.

jer su geni koji kontrolišu ponašanje složeni.

So if you're a terrorist and have to choose

Pa, ako ste terorista i morate da izaberete

between starting a grueling basic research program

između pokretanja napornog istraživačkog programa

that will require years of meticulous lab work and still might not pan out,

koj bi zahtevao godine minucioznog laboratorijskog rada koji može da omane

or just blowing stuff up?

ili prostog raznošenja stvari?

You'll probably choose the later.

Verovatno ćete izabrati drugo.

This is especially true because at least in theory,

Ovo je naročito tačno jer, bar u teoriji,

it should be pretty easy to build what's called a reversal drive.

trebalo bi da je prilično lako napraviti reverzibilni pogon.

That's one that basically overwrites the change made by the first gene drive.

To je pogon koji u suštini briše promenu koju je uzrokovao prvi pogon.

So if you don't like the effects of a change,

Pa, ako vam se ne sviđaju efekti izmene,

you can just release a second drive that will cancel it out,

možete prosto da oslobodite drugi pogon koji će to da poništi,

at least in theory.

bar u teoriji.

OK, so where does this leave us?

U redu, šta nam preostaje?

We now have the ability to change entire species at will.

Sad imamo sposobnost da po želji promenimo čitavu vrstu.

Should we?

Da li bismo trebali?

Are we gods now?

Da li smo sad bogovi?

I'm not sure I'd say that.

Nisam sigurna da bih to rekla.

But I would say this:

Ali bih rekla sledeće:

first, some very smart people

pod jedan, neki veoma pametni ljudi

are even now debating how to regulate gene drives.

čak i sad raspravljaju kako da regulišu genetske pogone.

At the same time, some other very smart people

Istovremeno, neki drugi veoma pametni ljudi

are working hard to create safeguards,

vredno rade na stvaranju obezbeđenja,

like gene drives that self-regulate or peter out after a few generations.

kao genetski pogoni koji se samoregulišu ili nestaju nakon par generacija.

That's great.

To je sjajno.

But this technology still requires a conversation.

Ali ova tehnologija i dalje zahteva diskusiju.

And given the nature of gene drives,

Shodno prirodi genetskih pogona,

that conversation has to be global.

razgovor bi morao da bude globalan.

What if Kenya wants to use a drive but Tanzania doesn't?

Šta ako Kenija želi da koristi pogon, ali Tanzanija ne želi?

Who decides whether to release a gene drive that can fly?

Ko odlučuje da li da oslobodi genetski pogon koji leti?

I don't have the answer to that question.

Nemam odgovor na to pitanje.

All we can do going forward, I think,

Sve što možemo u buduće, mislim,

is talk honestly about the risks and benefits

je da iskreno razgovaramo o rizicima i prednostima

and take responsibility for our choices.

i da preuzmemo odgovornost za naše izbore.

By that I mean, not just the choice to use a gene drive,

Pod tim mislim, ne samo na izbor korišćenja genetskog pogona,

but also the choice not to use one.

već i na izbor njegove neupotrebe.

Humans have a tendency to assume that the safest option

Ljudi teže pretpostavci da je najbezbednija opcija

is to preserve the status quo.

da se čuva status kvo.

But that's not always the case.

Ali to nije uvek tako.

Gene drives have risks, and those need to be discussed,

Genetski pogoni nose rizike, a o njima mora da se raspravlja,

but malaria exists now and kills 1,000 people a day.

ali malarija je sada prisutna i ubija svakodnevno 1000 ljudi.

To combat it, we spray pesticides that do grave damage to other species,

Protiv nje koristimo pesticide koji nanose ozbiljnu štetu drugim vrstama,

including amphibians and birds.

uključujući vodozemce i ptice.

So when you hear about gene drives in the coming months,

Pa, kad narednih meseci budete slušali o genetskim pogonima,

and trust me, you will be hearing about them,

a verujte mi, slušaćete o njima,

remember that.

setite se ovoga.

It can be frightening to act,

Može da bude zastrašujuće delati,

but sometimes, not acting is worse.

ali je ponekad gore ne delati.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)