CRISPR PATENT RULING

CRISPR PATENT RULING

TOPIC: Science & Tech

Context- The U.S. patent office has awarded key patent rights related to the CRISPR–Cas9 gene editing tool to the Broad Institute team led by molecular biologist Feng Zhang. It had been locked in a battle with another team that includes biochemist Jennifer Doudna and microbiologist Emmanuelle Charpentier who shared a Nobel Prize for the discovery in 2020.

Concept-

About CRISPR Cas-9

• CRISPR (an acronym for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) is a family of DNA sequences found in the genomes of prokaryotic organisms such as bacteria and archaea.
• These sequences are derived from DNA fragments of bacteriophages that had previously infected the prokaryote.
• They are used to detect and destroy DNA from similar bacteriophages during subsequent infections.
• Hence these sequences play a key role in the antiviral (i.e. anti-phage) defense system of prokaryotes and provide a form of acquired immunity.
• CRISPR are found in approximately 50% of sequenced bacterial genomes and nearly 90% of sequenced archaea.
• Cas9 (or “CRISPR-associated protein 9”) is an enzyme that uses CRISPR sequences as a guide to recognize and cleave specific strands of DNA that are complementary to the CRISPR sequence.
• Cas9 enzymes together with CRISPR sequences form the basis of a technology known as CRISPR-Cas9 that can be used to edit genes within organisms.
• CRISPR-CAS9 is a technology that allows scientists to essentially cut-and-paste DNA, raising hope of genetic fixes for disease.
• The development of the CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing technique was recognized by the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2020 which was awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna.