>Wouldn't it be nice if the geneticists could isolate a "lethal gene" in
>gambusia and spread it around all infested areas?
>
>Just dreaming, or maybe not! Any hot-shot geneticists out there who could
>take care of this problem?
I'm not much of a Geneticist these days due to a career switch :-)
but
I'm afraid it can't be done. Where genetic engeneering is used to introduce
these "killer genes", it is the F1 and subsequent generation of the
introduced organism that have the lethal factor, so only descentants of the
introduced species would be effected. If they did cross with a local
population then the gene would be quickly selected out - it is after all
lethal.
The technique is a good one when introducing a biological control organism
where you are not sure of the effect the introduced organism would have on
the environment a whole.
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