Daily News Analysis » CRISPR

CRISPR

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

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.

What is Genome editing?

  • Genome editing is a method for making specific changes to the DNA of a cell or organism. 
  • It can be used to add, remove or alter DNA in the genome.
  • Editing DNA can lead to changes in physical traits, like eye color, and disease risk. Scientists use different technologies to do this.

What is Genome?

  • It is the full set of genetic “instructions” that determine how an organism will develop.

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.

What is Sickle Cell Disease?

  • Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a group of inherited red blood cell disorders.
  • People with sickle cell disease produce unusually crescent or sickle shaped red blood cells.
  • These sicle shaped RBCs do not live as long as healthy blood cells and can block blood vessels which results in anaemia.