Inquiry Question 3: Does artificial manipulation of DNA have the potential to change populations forever?
Evaluate the benefits of using genetic technologies in agricultural, medical and industrial applications, and the future directions and potential impacts of genetic technologies on society
A focused answer to the HSC Biology Module 6 dot point on the future of genetic research. Germline gene editing (He Jiankui case, prime editing), gene drives for mosquito control, synthetic biology, xenotransplantation, RNA therapeutics and the regulatory and ethical questions they raise.
Reviewed by: AI editorial process; not yet individually human-reviewed
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What this dot point is asking
NESA wants you to evaluate where genetic technologies are heading and the social, ethical and regulatory issues that come with them. Choose two or three specific named technologies rather than listing many.
The answer
Germline gene editing
- What it is
- Editing DNA in eggs, sperm or embryos so the change is passed to all cells of the future person and to their descendants.
- State of the art
- Technically possible since 2014 (CRISPR in mouse embryos) and demonstrated in humans by He Jiankui in 2018, who edited the CCR5 gene in twin embryos in an attempt to confer HIV resistance. He was prosecuted in China and the scientific community condemned the experiment as premature and unethical.
- Potential benefits
- Prevention of severe inherited disease in families where preimplantation diagnosis cannot help (both parents homozygous for a recessive condition).
- Issues
- Consent. The future person cannot consent.
- Safety. Off-target edits and mosaicism are difficult to detect and impossible to reverse once heritable.
- Equity. Likely accessible only to wealthy families.
- Slippery slope to enhancement. Selection of non-medical traits.
Regulation. Banned or strictly limited in almost every jurisdiction; a global moratorium has been proposed by leading scientists.
Gene drives
What it is. A CRISPR-based element that copies itself onto the homologous chromosome in every individual, so the drive is inherited by close to 100 percent of offspring instead of 50 percent. A drive can spread through a wild population in a few dozen generations.
Applications.
- Malaria control. Engineered Anopheles mosquitoes either crash the population (sex-linked sterility drive) or block parasite transmission. Target Malaria's work in Burkina Faso is the most advanced field programme.
- Invasive species control. Drives against rodents on islands or against cane toads in Australia.
Issues. Irreversibility, cross-border spread, ecosystem consequences, governance gap.
Prime editing and base editing
Prime editing (2019). A "search and replace" CRISPR system that can write small new sequences into a chosen location without a double-strand break. Lower off-target rate than original CRISPR-Cas9. Approaching clinical trials for sickle cell and other monogenic diseases.
Base editing (2016). Converts one base directly to another (e.g. C to T) without cutting both strands. Verve Therapeutics has run trials for inherited hypercholesterolaemia.
These technologies extend CRISPR's reach and address some of its off-target concerns.
RNA and mRNA therapeutics
The COVID-19 mRNA vaccines (Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna) proved the platform at scale. Future applications:
- Cancer vaccines tailored to individual tumour neoantigens.
- Replacement therapies for protein-deficiency diseases.
- Treatments for rare diseases that are too small a market for traditional drug development.
Synthetic biology
The engineering of new biological systems from standardised genetic parts.
- Engineered microbes producing pharmaceuticals (artemisinin in yeast for malaria treatment), fragrances, and meat alternatives.
- Minimal genomes. Craig Venter's group constructed JCVI-syn3.0, a bacterium with only 473 genes, the smallest known self-replicating organism.
- Xenobots. Programmable biological "machines" built from frog cells (Tufts and University of Vermont, 2020).
Xenotransplantation
Transplanting genetically modified animal organs into humans. Pigs engineered with CRISPR to remove pig-specific antigens and inactivate endogenous retroviruses (PERVs) have been used in two heart transplants (2022 and 2023) and several kidney transplants. The recipients all died within months but proved the technology works in principle. With ongoing organ shortages (about 1,800 Australians on the transplant waiting list at any time) the technology has significant potential.
Pharmacogenomics and personalised medicine
WGS-guided treatment is moving from research into routine care. By the late 2020s, sequencing at birth is likely to be common in high-income countries, with pharmacogenomic dosing recommendations attached to every prescription.
Artificial intelligence and protein design
DeepMind's AlphaFold (2020) solved the protein structure prediction problem. RFdiffusion and similar generative models design new proteins computationally. This accelerates drug discovery, enzyme engineering and vaccine design.
Cross-cutting issues
| Issue | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Consent | Future generations and ecosystems cannot consent |
| Equity | High-cost therapies may widen health inequalities |
| Dual use | Same techniques can build vaccines or bioweapons |
| Regulation lag | Technology moves faster than law |
| Public engagement | Acceptance varies widely between countries and communities |
| Reversibility | Gene drives and germline edits are heritable; not easily undone |
Examples in context
Example 1. Gene drives proposed for cane toad control in northern Australia. CSIRO researchers and James Cook University ecologists have published designs for a CRISPR-based gene drive in cane toads (Rhinella marina) that would spread a knockout of the bufadienolide toxin pathway through the population, making the toads safe for native predators (quolls, snakes, goannas) to eat. Because gene drives bias inheritance so that more than 50 percent of offspring inherit the modified allele, a small release could spread the trait across the entire 200 million-strong Australian cane toad population within decades. Australian regulators, including the OGTR, have not approved any open-field release because reversal is biologically difficult and any cross-border spread to native South American toads would be ecologically catastrophic.
Example 2. Mitochondrial replacement therapy and the three-parent baby. Approved in the UK in 2015 but not in Australia until 2022 ("Maeve's Law"), mitochondrial replacement therapy transplants the nucleus of an egg from a mother with mitochondrial disease into a donor egg containing healthy mitochondria, then fertilises it. The resulting child inherits nuclear DNA from two parents and a tiny amount of mitochondrial DNA from the donor. It is heritable in females (mitochondria pass through eggs), making this Australia's first legally permitted germline modification. As of 2026, fewer than 20 children have been born by this method worldwide, and long-term outcomes are still being tracked by registries.
Try this
Q1. Identify two key differences between somatic gene therapy and germline gene editing. [2 marks]
- Cue. Somatic therapy treats one patient's body cells and is not inherited; germline editing changes sperm/egg/embryo DNA and is passed to all descendants.
Q2. A gene drive is designed to spread an infertility allele through the cane toad population. If 1 percent of toads in northern Queensland are initially modified and the drive ensures 95 percent of their offspring inherit the allele, predict the proportion of toads carrying the allele after 5 generations, assuming no selection cost. [3 marks]
- Cue. Each generation, the carrier proportion is roughly multiplied by 1.9 (the drive bias against random Mendelian 50:50); after 5 generations starting from 1 percent, carriers approach near-fixation if non-carriers cannot escape mating with carriers.
Q3. Evaluate the ethical and societal implications of human germline editing. (a) Describe the He Jiankui CCR5 case of 2018. (b) Identify two ethical concerns. (c) Justify whether germline editing should be permitted to prevent serious genetic disease. [2+2+3 marks]
- Cue. (a) Twins born with CRISPR-edited CCR5 supposedly for HIV resistance, in violation of consensus moratorium. (b) Lack of consent from future generations; risk of off-target edits; inequity of access. (c) A judgement that distinguishes therapy (disease prevention) from enhancement.
Related dot points
- Investigate the uses and applications of genetic technologies (past, present and future), including: recombinant DNA technology, CRISPR-Cas9, whole genome sequencing, gene therapy and cloning of transgenic species
A focused answer to the HSC Biology Module 6 dot point on genetic technologies. Recombinant DNA (restriction enzymes, ligase, plasmid vectors), CRISPR-Cas9 mechanism, whole genome sequencing, gene therapy (somatic vs germline) and cloning of transgenic species, with named examples.
- Investigate the uses and applications of biotechnology (past, present and future), including: analysing the social implications and ethical uses of biotechnology, including plant and animal examples; researching and evaluating the development and use of a biotechnology
A focused answer to the HSC Biology Module 6 dot point on biotechnology uses. Agricultural (Bt cotton, golden rice), medical (recombinant insulin, gene therapy), industrial (rennet, biofuels) and forensic applications, with a balanced analysis of the social and ethical implications.
- Evaluate the effects of biotechnology on the genetic diversity of agricultural and natural populations, and the impact on biodiversity
A focused answer to the HSC Biology Module 6 dot point on biotechnology and biodiversity. The narrowing effect of monocultures and cloning, gene flow to wild relatives, herbicide and insecticide resistance, conservation applications (gene banks, de-extinction), and an evaluative judgement on net impact.