Scientists create the first mutant ants

Kronauer and his colleagues, led by Rockefeller University graduate student Waring Trible, studied clonal raider ants, Ooceraea biroi. Unlike most ants, the raider ants reproduce asexually, through parthenogenesis. Popularly called virgin birth, it's a phenomenon seen in some snakes, lizards and sharks. The offspring end up as clones of the females. For both species, the desired result of genetic alteration was the same: creating mother ants that gave birth to future generations of mutants.

Both research groups mutated their ants in the same way. Using the CRISPR-Cas9 technique, with bacterial molecules acting like scissors to snip out genes, the scientists knocked out a crucial component of the ant's odor receptors.

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Lutherf said:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/08/10/scientists-create-the-first-mutant-ants/?utm_term=.b415fafc23e7



So we've got nuclear war on the horizon, bunkers being sold by the dozen in California and now mutant ants. This is all becoming a little too close to Fallout 5 for my liking.

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