CRISPR-Cas9 Gene Editing
- January 12, 2025
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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CRISPR-Cas9 Gene Editing
Sub: Sci
Sec: Biotech
Why in News
- The CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing tool has been at the forefront of ground breaking research, including advancements in agriculture, healthcare, and genetic engineering.
What is Gene Editing?
- Gene editing involves altering the DNA sequence using specific enzymes to remove, add, or replace genetic material.
- The process is comparable to editing a document, where errors in the DNA code are corrected for desired outcomes.
- Early methods involved two enzymes:
- One to cut DNA at a specific location.
- Another to insert the desired genetic change.
- These methods were labour-intensive and lacked efficiency.
What is CRISPR-Cas9?
- CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, while Cas9 refers to CRISPR-associated Protein 9.
- It is a revolutionary gene-editing tool that precisely cuts DNA strands to allow the insertion of new genetic material.
- Jennifer Doudna (University of California, Berkeley) and Emmanuelle Charpentier (Humboldt University, Germany) developed the CRISPR-Cas9 system, earning the Nobel Prize in 2012.
- Feng Zhang (Broad Institute) advanced its applications but was excluded from the Nobel recognition.
Applications in Plant Genome Engineering:
- Researchers like Holger Puchta (Karlsruhe Botanical Institute) have used CRISPR variants (Cas9, Cas12, Cas13) to modify plant genomes.
- Notable advancements: Gene ‘knockout’ in tomato plants, enhancing sweetness without affecting weight.
Breakthrough in Treating Eye Disorders:
- Scientists at LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, in collaboration with IGIB, used CRISPR to correct genetic mutations in patient-specific stem cells.
- The mutation-corrected stem cells developed into retinal cells with restored protein expression.
- Opened pathways for autologous cell therapies for inherited eye disorders.
Cas12: A CRISPR-associated protein that targets and cleaves both double-stranded and single-stranded DNA, activated by DNA sequences, and utilized in gene editing and molecular diagnostics.
Cas13: A CRISPR-associated protein that specifically targets and cleaves single-stranded RNA, activated by RNA sequences, and applied in RNA research and antiviral strategies.