Discovery of CRISPR

In 2011 Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier discovered CRISPR Cas-9, an amazing gene editing tool which could be used to cut DNA accurately at targeted areas. They received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2020. This discovery is regarded as one of the important discoveries in the field of Biology.

How CRISPR works?

How CRISPR let us edit our DNA ?

Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat are DNA sequences found in 50% of bacterial genome and 90% archaea (Hille et al., 2018). Cas 9 is an enzyme which uses CRISPR as a guide to go and cut DNA at targeted areas. These prokaryotes use them as an immune defense mechanism to destroy bacteriophages (Barrangou et al., 2007; Hale et al., 2009).

The scientist discovered this mechanism found in prokaryotic organisms and made it into molecular scissors, which helps in editing the genes in DNA accurately. This technology could be used to insert, delete or replace specific genes accurately in many species less tediously.

The power of CRISPR

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In 2018, a Chinese biophysicist He Jiankui announced the successful use of CRISPR Cas-9 tool on human editing. He used this technology to cleanse HIV genes in HIV positive father’s sperm cells.  

Twin girls, fictionally known as Lulu and Nana were born as HIV negative children in October 2018.  

He Jiankui was sentenced to three years imprisonment for illegal medical practices. 

CRISPR – The Future

This discovery opened a wide area of opportunities such as treatment of genetic diseases, production of biotechnology products, basic biotechnology research and more. It also gave hope to the functionality of gene drive technology. Finally in 2023, CRISPR gene therapy for blood disorders were approved by the government of the UK.

UK First to approve CRISPR treatment for diseases.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03590-6#:~:text=In%20a%20world%20first%2C%20the,the%20decade%20since%20its%20discovery.

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References

Barrangou, R., Fremaux, C., Deveau, H., Richards, M., Boyaval, P., Moineau, S., Romero, D. A., & Horvath, P. (2007). CRISPR provides acquired resistance against viruses in prokaryotes. Science, 315(5819), 1709–1712.

Hale, C. R., Zhao, P., Olson, S., Duff, M. O., Graveley, B. R., Wells, L., Terns, R. M., & Terns, M. P. (2009). RNA-guided RNA cleavage by a CRISPR RNA-Cas protein complex. Cell, 139(5), 945–956.

Hille, F., Richter, H., Wong, S. P., Bratovič, M., Ressel, S., & Charpentier, E. (March 2018). The Biology of CRISPR-Cas: Backward and Forward. Cell, 172(6), 1239–1259.