CRISPR

Why in the News?

India has approved a 5-year project to develop CRISPR to cure sickle cell anaemia.

Key Points:

About

CRISPR 

• CRISPR is shorthand for “CRISPR-Cas9.” in which CRISPER stands  for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats.
• Discovered in 2012 by American scientist Jennifer Doudna, French scientist Emmanuelle Charpentier.
• It was adapted from the natural defense mechanisms of bacteria. 
• It is a powerful tool for editing genomes

How does CRISPR technology work?

• It’s likened to a pair of molecular scissors, a cut-and-paste technology, that can cut the two DNA strands at a specific location and modify gene function. 
• The cutting is done by enzymes like Cas9, guided by pre-designed RNA sequences, which ensure that the targeted section of the genome is edited out.

Applications:

•  Correcting genetic defects.
•  Improving the growth and resilience of crops.
• To correct diseases such as sickle cell anaemia, colour blindness.
• In creation of Genetically Modified Organisms.
• Used in cells and animal models in research labs to understand diseases.

Ethical Concerns

• Regulatory Challenges: Many countries are struggling with questions of how to regulate CRISPR and other gene editing technologies.
• Safety Concerns: CRISPR. For example, it could target an unintended location within the DNA, producing changes that could cause disease or other harm.
• If genetic edits are made to embryos, these changes will be inherited by all future generations.
  • Eventually, the entire human species could bear the marks of genetic editing.