Effectiveness of Synthetic Biology to Diminish Global Biological Diversity Loss: A Comprehensive Review
Keywords:
Biodiversity loss, Conservation, Effectiveness, Gene modification, Sustainability, Synthetic biologyAbstract
The status of biological diversity and genetic variations across the globe is changing faster due to various climatic and anthropogenic disturbances. Numerous research projects have revealed that traditional conservation approaches and protected area networks are inadequate to reduce the biodiversity loss rate. Synthetic biology is the most effective option to preserve biological diversity and increase sustainable protection of species in the existing environment through genetically improved materials. Synthetic biology is a field that connects research with practice, transforms ideas into innovations, offers the potential to resolve conservation problems via genome editing, and thinks strategically and tactically at the same time. This paper is prepared based on an extensive literature survey and explores synthetic biology`s effectiveness for the overall conservation practices of global biodiversity. The study revealed a communication gap and inadequate involvement between the conservation and synthetic biology communities. This paper broadly elucidates the potential applications of synthetic biology and discloses the necessity of optimistic synthetic biology technologies for protecting the global biological diversity.
References
E.S. Vrba, G.H. Denton, T.C. Partridge, L.H. Burckle, “Paleoclimate and Evolution, with Emphasis on Human Origins,” Yale University Press, New Haven, CN, 1995.
J. Franklin, J.M. Serra-Diaz, A.D. Syphard, H.M. Regan, “Global change and terrestrial plant community dynamics,” PNAS (Ecology), Vol. 113, Issus 14, pp. 3725–3734, 2016.
S. Dutta, M.K. Hossain, “Bringing back the Chakaria Sundarbans mangrove forest of South-east Bangladesh through sustainable management approach,” Asian Journal of Forestry, Vol. 4, Issue 2, pp.65–76, 2020.
R.F. Noss, A.P. Dobson, R. Baldwin, P. Beier, C.R. Davis, D.A. Dellasala, J. Francis, H. Locke, K. Nowak, R. Lopez, C. Reining, S.C. Trombulak, G. Tabor, “Bolder thinking for Conservation,” Conservation Biology, Vol. 26, Issue 1, pp.1–4, 2012.
K.H. Redford, W. Adams, G.M. Mace, “Synthetic Biology and Conservation of Nature: Wicked Problems and Wicked Solutions,” PLoS. Biol., Vol. 11, Issue 4, e1001530, 2013. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001530.
S. D?´az, J. Settele, E. Brond?´zio, H. Ngo, M. Gue`ze, J. Agard, A. Arneth, P. Balvanera, K. Brauman, S. Butchart, “Summary for Policymakers of the Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services,” 2020.
S.L. Pimm, C.N. Jenkins, R. Abell, T.M. Brooks, J.L. Gittleman, L.N. Joppa, P.H. Raven, C.M. Roberts, J.O. Sexton, “The biodiversity of species and their rates of extinction, distribution, and protection,” Science, Vol. 344, 1246752, 2014.
S.H.M. Butchart, M. Walpole, B. Collen, A. van Strien, J.P.W. Scharlemann, R.E.A. Almond, J.E.M. Baillie, B. Bomhard, C. Brown, J. Bruno, K.E. Carpenter, G.M. Carr, J. Chanson, A.M. Chenery, J. Csirke, N.C. Davidson, F. Davidson, M. Foster, A. Galli, J.N. Galloway, P. Genovesi, R.D. Gregory, M. Hockings, V. Kapos, J. Lamarque, F. Leverington, J. Loh, M.A. McGeoch, L. McRae, A. Minasyan, M.H. Morcillo, T.E.E. Oldfield, D. Pauly, S. Quader, C. Revenga, R.J. Sauer, B. Skolnik, D. Spear, D. Stanwell-Smith, S.N. Stuart, A. Symes, M. Tierney, T.D. Tyrrell, J.C. Vié, R. Watson, “Global biodiversity: indicators of recent declines,” Science, Vol. 328, pp.1164–1168, 2010.
S. Dutta, M.K. Hossain, M.A. Hossain, P. Chowdhury, “Exotic plants and their usage by local communities in the Sitakunda Botanical Garden and Eco-Park, Chittagong, Bangladesh,” Forest Research, Vol. 4, 136, 2015.
A.J. Piaggio, G. Segelbacher, P.J. Seddon, L. Alphey, E.L. Bennett, R.H. Carlson, R.M. Friedman, D. Kanavy, R. Phelan, K.H. Redford, M. Rosales, L. Slobodian, K. Wheeler, “Is It Time for Synthetic Biodiversity Conservation?” Trends in Ecology & Evolution, Vol. 32, Issue 2, pp.97-107, 2017.
R. Phelan, B. Baumgartner, S. Brand, E. Brister, S.W. Burgiel, R.A. Charo, I. Coche, A. Cofrancesco, J.A. Delborne, O. Edwards, “Intended consequences statement,” Conserv. Sci. Pract., Vol. 3, e371, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.371.
J. Godwin, M. Serr, S.K. Barnhill-Dilling, D.V. Blondel, P.R. Brown, K. Campbell, J. Delborne, A.L. Lloyd, K.P. Oh, T.A.A. Prowse, “Rodent gene drives for conservation: opportunities and data needs,” Proc. Biol. Sci., Vol. 286, 20191606, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.1606.
B.J. Novak, T. Maloney, R. Phelan, “Advancing a new toolkit for conservation: from science to policy,” Crispr. J., Vol. 1, pp.11–15, 2018.
G. Church, E. Regis, “Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology will reinvent Nature and Ourselves,” Basic Books, New York, USA, pp.14-78, 2012.
Synthetic Biology, Syntheticbiology.org, 2013 [Accessed 6 March 2023].
K. Redford, T.M. Brooks, N.B.W. Macfarlane, J.S. Adams, “Genetic frontiers for conservation: An assessment of synthetic biology and biodiversity conservation,” IUCN: Technical assessment, 2019. https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.CH. 2019.05.en.
N.B.W. Macfarlane, J. Adams, E.L. Bennett, T.M. Brooks, T.A. Delborne, H. Eggermont, D. Endy, K.M. Esvelt, B. Kolodziejczyk, T. Kuiken, M.J. Oliva, S.P. Moreno, L. Slobodian, R.B. Smith, D. Thizy, D.M. Tompkins, W. Wei, K.H. Redford, “Direct and indirect impacts of synthetic biology on biodiversity conservation,” iScience, Vol. 25,Issue 105423, pp.1-11, 2022.
C.W. Hong, N.W. Chan, “Strength-weakness-opportunities-threats Analysis of Penang National Park for Strategic Ecotourism Management,” World Applied Science Journal, Vol. 10, pp.136-145, 2010.
R.W. Saaty, “The analytic hierarchy process and SWOT analysis what it is and how it is used,” Math Model-9, McGraw Hill, 1987.
D.B. Botkin, “Discordant Harmonies: A New Ecology for the Twenty-First Century,” Oxford University Press, New York, USA, 1990.
M.J.H. Van Oppen, R.D. Gates, L.L. Blackall, N. Cantin, L.J. Chakravarti, W.Y. Chan, C. Cormick, A. Crean, K. Damjanovic, H. Epstein, “Shifting paradigms in restoration of the world’s coral reefs,” Global Change Biol., Vol. 23, pp.3437–3448, 2017.
T.P. Hughes, J.T. Kerry, A.H. Baird, S.R. Connolly, T.J. Chase, A. Dietzel, T. Hill, A.S. Hoey, M.O. Hoogenboom, M. Jacobson, “Global warming and recurrent mass bleaching of corals,” Nature, Vol. 568, pp.387–390, 2017.
W.M. Adams, “Against Extinction: The Story of Conservation,” Earthscan, London, UK, pp. 28-41, 2004.
K.H. Redford, W. Adams, R. Carlson, G.M. Mace, B. Ceccarelli, “Synthetic biology and the conservation of biodiversity,” Oryx, Vol. 48, pp. 330–336, 2014.
S. Dutta, M.K. Hossain, M.A. Hossain, P. Chowdhury, “Floral diversity of Sitakunda Botanical garden and Eco-park in Chittagong, Bangladesh,” Indian Journal of Tropical Biodiversity, Vol. 22, Issue 2, pp.106–118, 2014.
CBD, “Aichi Biodiversity Targets,” Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), 2010. Available: http://www.cbd.int/ sp/targets/. [Accessed: 6 September 2023]
M.C. Fisher, D.A. Henk, C.J. Briggs, J.S. Brownstein, L.C. Madoff, S.L. Mccraw, “Emerging fungal threats to animal, plant and ecosystem health,” Nature, Vol. 484, pp.186–194, 2012.
White-Nose Syndrome, Whitenosesyndrome.org, 2013. [Accessed: 14 May 2023]
D.C. Peterson, “Precaution: principles and practice in Australian environmental and natural resource management,” Aust. J. Agric. Resour. Econ., Vol. 50, pp.469–489, 2006.
J.B. Wiener, M.D. Rogers, “Comparing precaution in the United States and Europe,” J. Risk Res., Vol. 5, pp. 317–349, 2002.
E.S. Lander, “Brave new genome,” N. Engl. J. Med., Vol. 373, pp.5–8, 2015.
G.A. Backus, J.A. Delborne, “Threshold-dependent gene drives in the wild: spread, controllability, and ecological uncertainty,” Bioscience, Vol. 69, pp. 900–907, 2019.
J.B. Connolly, J.D. Mumford, S. Fuchs, G. Turner, C. Beech, A.R. North, A. Burt, “Systematic identification of plausible pathways to potential harm via problem formulation for investigational releases of a population suppression gene drives to control the human malaria vector Anopheles gambiae in West Africa,” Malar. J., Vol. 20: 170, 2021.
J. Kathage, M. Qaim, “Economic impacts and impact dynamics of Bat (Bacillus thuringiensis) cotton in India,” In the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 109, pp. 11652–11656, 2012.
A. Chaudhary, S. Pfister, S. Hellweg, “Spatially explicit analysis of biodiversity loss due to global agriculture, pasture and forest land use from a producer and consumer perspective,” Environ. Sci. Technol., Vol. 50, pp. 3928–3936, 2016.
M. Abberton, J. Batley, A. Bentley, J. Bryant, H. Cai, J. Cockram, A.C. de Oliveira, L.J. Cseke, H. Dempewolf, C. De Pace, “Global agricultural intensification during climate change: a role for genomics,” Plant Biotechnol. J., Vol. 14, pp.1095–1098, 2016.
S.F. Bender, C. Wagg, M.G.A. van der Heijden, “An underground revolution: biodiversity and soil ecological engineering for agricultural sustainability,” Trends Ecol. Evol., Vol. 31, pp.440–452, 2016.
B. Borel, “CRISPR, microbes and more are joining the war against crop killers,” Nature, Vol. 543, pp.302–304, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1038/543302a.
K. Bourzac, “Bioengineering: solar upgrade,” Nature, Vol. 544, S11–S13, 2017.
H. De Steur, S. Mehta, X. Gellynck, J.L. Finkelstein, “GM biofortified crops: potential effects on targeting the micronutrient intake gap in human populations,” Curr. Opin. Biotechnol., Vol. 44, pp.181–188, 2017.
J.B. Cohen, K.J. Maddocks, Y. Huang, B.A. Christian, S.M. Jaglowski, C.R. Flowers, K.A. Blum, “Is there really a covert manipulation of U.N. discussions about regulating gene drives?” Leuk. Lymphoma, Vol. 58, pp.1–2, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aar7289.
R.K. Dumroese, M.I. Williams, J.A. Stanturf, J.B.S. Clair, “Considerations for restoring temperate forests of tomorrow: forest restoration, assisted migration, and bioengineering,” New For. (Dordr)., Vol. 46, pp.947–964, 2015.
A. Good, “Toward nitrogen-fixing plants,” Science, Vol. 359, pp. 869–870, 2018.
Science for Environment Policy (SEP), “Synthetic biology and biodiversity,” Future Brief, 15, 2016. http://ec.europa.eu/science-environment-policy.
L. Serrano, “Synthetic biology: promises and challenges,” Molecular Systems Biology, Vol. 3, pp. 158, 2007.
M.S. Garfinkel, D. Endy, G.E. Epstein, R.M. Friedman, “Synthetic Genomics: Options for Governance,” 2007. [Accessed: 18 July 2023]
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors contributing to this journal agree to publish their articles under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, allowing third parties to share their work (copy, distribute, transmit) and to adapt it, under the condition that the authors are given credit and that in the event of reuse or distribution, the terms of this license are made clear.
Download Article Template
