Gene Editing and the History and Definition of Crispr

Gene editing, also known as genome editing, is used to make targeted modifications to a cell’s or an organism’s DNA. When an enzyme cuts DNA at a certain sequence, the cell repairs it and makes a change, or ‘edit,’ to the sequence.

What is CRISPR-Cas9? 

CRISPR is a dynamic, adaptable technique that can target practically any genomic site and perhaps fix damaged genes. It can remove, add, or change specific DNA sequences in higher species’ genomes.

CRISPR refers to ‘Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats’ DNA segments and are short base sequence repetitions separated by spacer DNA segments.

CRISPR, associated with protein 9 (CAS-9), is an enzyme that introduces a double-strand break at a precise point within a strand of DNA while using a synthetic guide RNA. Bacterial cells use this system to recognise and destroy viral DNA as adaptive immunity.

What is Gene Editing?

• Genome editing, further known as gene editing, is a collection of technology that allows scientists to change an organism’s DNA.

• Genetic material can be inserted, deleted, or altered at any point in the genome using these methods.

• CRISPR-CAS9 is one of the various techniques for DNA editing available.

• The CRISPR-Cas9 system has sparked a lot of interest in the scientific community since it is faster, cheaper, more accurate, and more efficient than previous DNA editing techniques and has a wide range of applications.

History

• In 2018, a Chinese researcher named He Jiankui stunned the scientific community when he announced that he had successfully altered the genomes of twin girls born in November to prevent them from developing HIV.

• Investigators stated he “privately” organised a project team with foreign personnel and employed “technology of unknown safety and effectiveness” for illegal human embryo gene editing.

• However, most countries, including China, prohibit such gene-editing research.

Process for Gene Editing

• A name was given to unusual but recurring DNA structures that scientists had seen for some time. “Clustered regularly in the interspaced short palindromic repeats,” or CRISPR was given to this gene.

• CRISPR as an important aspect of the “immune system” by scientists in 2012. When a virus infects a bacterium, for example, the bacterium fights back by breaking up the virus’s DNA.

• The virus is killed, but some of the virus’s DNA is stored by the bacterium.

• When an invasion occurs again, the bacterium generates an enzyme called Cas9 that compares the stored fingerprints to the invaders’

• Cas9 can cut the invading DNA if it matches.

Two Parts of Crispr-CAS9’s Gene-Editing Tool

1. A short RNA sequence capable of binding to a specific DNA target and

2. Cas9 is a DNA-cutting enzyme that functions like molecular scissors.

A short RNA sequence that matches the DNA sequence that needs to be edited is inserted to edit a gene of interest. The Cas9 enzyme binds to DNA and cuts it at the site where the RNA sequence is attached.

The natural repair mechanism of DNA is used to add or remove the genetic material or modify the DNA after it has been cut.

Advantages of Gene Editing?

• The CRISPR might be used to edit disease-causing genes in fully developed embryos, deleting the flawed script from that person’s future generations’ genetic code. Genome editing (Gene editing) can potentially reduce, if not eliminate, the incidence of many major hereditary disorders, thereby alleviating human suffering worldwide.

• It may potentially be able to implant genes that provide lifelong immunity to infection.

Disadvantages of Gene Editing?

• Making irreversible modifications to every cell for the future children and grandchildren’s bodies would be extremely dangerous human experimentation.

• These concerns include off-target mutations (unintentional genome edits), long-term editing impacts, genetic pathways in embryonic and fetal development, and long-term health and safety ramifications.

• Some say we don’t know enough about how the genome works to make long-term modifications. Changing one gene might have unintended and wide-ranging consequences on other portions of the genome, which will be handed down to future generations.

• Many believe that altering genomes is unethical and that we should let nature take its course.

• Few think that allowing human germline for any gene-editing can lead to a lack of understanding of regulatory boundaries, resulting in the rise of market-based eugenics that will increase current discrimination, inequality, and conflict.

• It will be used to choose desirable qualities such as intelligence and attractiveness.

Conclusion

According to recent scientific developments, CRISPR is a very adaptable technology that is also proving to be precise and progressively safe to adopt. But there’s still a long way to go; we’re only now seeing the maximum potential of genome-editing tools like CRISPR-Cas9. There are still technological and ethical barriers between us and a future in which we can feed the world with genetically modified foods, eradicate genetic illnesses, and resurrect extinct animal species.