Evading Natural Selection in Complex Environments

Most engineered genomic changes reduce evolutionary fitness outside the laboratory and are consequently eliminated by natural selection. By altering the environment, we can change the topology of the fitness landscape and select for altered traits such as herbicide resistance. However, these rationally designed solutions tend to be quite specific and are highly disruptive to existing ecosystems. The advent of CRISPR/Cas9 and other technologies that privilege design over evolution offer novel methods of evading natural selection with greater precision. These techniques may allow us to establish and maintain certain useful traits without otherwise perturbing the ecosystem.