What will happen to the gene-editing technology CRISPR in 2018?

According to foreign media reports, in less than 5 years, gene editing technology CRISPR has revolutionized the face and pace of development of modern biology.
the technology is capable of discovering, removing and replacing genetic material, scientists have published more than 5,000 papers on the technology since it was first reported in 2012.
biochemistry researchers embrace the technology in the hope of creating better disease models.
countless companies have invested in new drugs, therapies, food, compounds and new materials in an attempt to gain new commercial benefits.
, when we refer to CRISPR, we actually refer to the CRISPR/Cas system, consisting of a small segment of RNA and an efficient DNA cutting enzyme (i.e., nuclease), completely known as the internormal echo repeat sequence series series series series series associated protein system (regular cluster cluster ingersaued interspaced short-leveldromroms/CRISPR-associates).
what it means for biology is what a Ford Model T means for manufacturing and transportation.
now, CRISPR is now used in the treatment of human cancer, and by 2018 the technology will be used in clinical trials of genetic diseases such as sickle-type red blood cell disease and B thalassemia.
However, like the original Ford Model T, the classic CRISPR technology has become a bit crude, unreliable, and even a little dangerous.
it cannot be combined with any part of the genome and sometimes cuts the wrong position.
, it doesn't have a close button.
If the Ford Model T is easy to overheat, the classic CRISPR can be said to be easy to "eat more".
even with such limitations, the classic CRISPR system will remain a very important tool in biology in 2018 and beyond.
But in 2017, newer, faster gene-editing tools are on the way, and may soon overshadow the first generation of technology.
So if you're interested in making a big splash in this area, be prepared, because Gene Editing 2.0 is right in front of you! Targeted cutting operations are a hallmark of CRISPR technology.
, however, there is a risk that a nuclease in Cas9 cuts the two strands of DNA of an organism.
rapid lying operations are a hallmark of CRISPR technology.
, however, there is a risk that a nuclease in Cas9 cuts the two strands of DNA of an organism.
cells may make mistakes in repairing this severe genetic damage.
that's why scientists want to design safer ways to do the same.
method is to make the Cas9 nuclease mutation, making it unable to cut, but still binds to DNA.
then, binding other proteins, such as those that activate gene expression, to Cas9 nuclease, which loses some of its function, together control the on and off of the gene without altering the DNA sequence (sometimes with light or chemical signals).
this "epigenetic editing" may be used to treat diseases caused by a combination of genetic factors, while classical CRISPR techniques are best suited to dysfunctioncauseed by a single mutation.
early December, researchers at the Salk Institute in the United States tried the new method in mice to treat serious diseases including diabetes, acute kidney disease and muscular dystrophy.
scientists at Harvard University and the Broad Institute have even made bolder improvements to the CRISPR system: editing a single base pair.
to achieve this, they must design a new enzyme that does not exist in nature, from chemically converting the paired adenine (A)-thymus (T) to the bird's ethos (G)-cytosine (C).
this change may seem small, but it is of great significance.
David Liu, a chemist at Harvard University who led the work, estimates that about half of the 32,000 known pathogenic point mutations in the human body can be repaired by such single-bit transformations. "
I don't want the public to misconstrue this, that we can convert any piece of DNA from any person or any animal, or even the cells in a petri dish, into another piece of DNA," says David Liu.
the biggest question is, how capable can this era be? and how can we use these technologies for the benefit of society as quickly as possible? "How do I control risk?" The CRISPR/Cas system is an epithetized immune mechanism found in most bacteria and most ancient bacteria, and its job is to detect and eliminate the invading viral DNA until it is removed.
the system is an "accelerator" with no braking devices and therefore potentially dangerous - especially in clinical applications.
the longer CRISPR remains in the cell, the greater the risk that it will target certain fragments and cut them.
scientists have been developing new tools to better control CRISPR in order to minimize these off-target problems.
so far, researchers have identified 21 naturally occurring families of anti-CRISPR (anti-CRISPR), protein molecules that inhibit gene editing enzymes.
, however, scientists know only a few of these proteins work.
some proteins bind directly to Cas9, preventing it from connecting to DNA, while others activate enzymes that compete with Cas9 for genomic locations.
now, the University of California, Berkeley, UC San Francisco, Harvard University, the Broad Institute and the University of Toronto are working on ways to use these natural shutdown mechanisms to make them coded control tools.
in addition to medical applications, these protein families are also important for the continued development of gene drive.
gene drivers were first proposed in 2003 by Austin Burt, an evolutionary geneticist at Imperial College London, as a gene-editing technique that rapidly spreads specific traits into populations.
if it can somehow advance the evolution process, it will be very beneficial to humans in dealing with everything from pandemic diseases to climate change.
for example, we can use this method to eliminate the mosquitoes that cause malaria, or to eliminate harmful invasive species.
However, in the wild environment, these instruments can also lose control, or even have disastrous consequences.
As recently as 2017, the Defense Advanced Research Program (DARPA), part of the U.S. Department of Defense, invested $65 million in finding safer gene-driven designs, including the anti-CRISPR "off switch."
the advance of Cas enzymes, despite decades of advances in genetic technology, many scientists do not understand why certain defects in DNA cause disease.
Even though we know which genes encode into cells in what order, it is much more difficult to know how the sequence information is transmitted, translated (or not translated).
that's why the team of Researchers at Harvard University and the Broad Institute, one of the discoverers of CRISPR-linked proteins, is looking for DNA-targeted Cas enzymes.
Because the genetic information that cells read when they assemble proteins comes from RNA, they carry more basic genetic information about specific diseases.
, as RNA is constantly transcribed and translated, modifications to RNA can help better treat short-term diseases such as inflammation or trauma.
the new system, known as "REPAIR", the full name is "programmable adenosine to osside RNA editing" (RNA Editing for Programmable A to I R) and currently only edits a single nucleotide.
next, the researchers hope to try the technique in 11 other possible combinations.
scientists have been discovering new Cas enzymes.
team at the Broad Institute studied the characteristics of the nucleic acid asse Cpf1.
this enzyme has several key differences with other Cas enzymes, including leaving a more active end when cutting DNA, rather than a "blunt" end.
February 2017, a team at the University of California, Berkeley, discovered CasY and CasX, the most concise CRISPR system available.
in the coming months or years, scientists hope to find more enzymes and more possibilities.
only time will tell whether the CRISPR-Cas9 system is the best gene-editing tool or just the beginning of a scientific revolution.
scientists need a lot of research to determine what tools are most appropriate for different applications, and what can be done now, perhaps at the same time, to advance the study of all these systems.
it could take many years to apply gene editing technology to the treatment of human diseases, crop cultivation and the prevention and treatment of disease-carrying insects.
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