Abstract.
In October 2020, Prof. Emmanuelle Charpentier (Max Plank, Berlin) and Prof. Jenniffer Doudna (University of California, Berkeley) were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry “for the development of a method for genome editing”. For many years genome editing was a group of technologies that gave scientists the ability to change an organism’s DNA. CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) is a type of gene-editing technology that lets scientists more rapidly and accurately ‘cut’ and ‘paste’ genes into DNA. It is based on a targeted DNA-destroying defense system originally found in certain prokaryotes. When bacteria detect the presence of viral DNA, they produce RNA corresponding to that of the invading virus. This RNA then recruits a protein called Cas9 and guides it to the section of the genome corresponding to the viral DNA, which the Cas9 protein will then cut and remove from the bacterium’s genome. Since Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jenifer Doudna discovered the CRISPR-Cas9 (or CRISPR/Cas9) genetic scissors in 2012 their use has exploded with new and revolutionary tools for biotechnology applications. CRISPR-Cas9 contributed to many important discoveries in basic research, such as crops that withstand mould, pests and drought. In medicine, clinical trials of new cancer therapies are underway, and the dream of being able to cure inherited diseases is about to come true. These genetic scissors have taken the life sciences into a new epoch and, in many ways, promise to bring the greatest benefits to humankind. CRISPR revolutionized the methodology, making the process simpler, faster, and efficient by giving scientists genetic scissors to cut or cut-and-paste genes wherever they want in the genome. CRISPR-Cas9-mediated gene editing of proto-oncogenes or tumour-suppressor genes offering a treatment of cancer. Also, CRISPR-Cas9 can be used to evaluate genes targeted by chemotherapeutic drugs and to identify new pathways to reduce or eliminate resistance to chemotherapy. CRISPR-Cas9 methods can change food production barriers and ameliorate negative effects of climate warming. Also, could revolutionize plant breeding in areas with droughts or poor soil. With CRISPR-Cas9 methods researchers can make milk, eggs or peanuts that are safe and do not cause allergies to people. Gene editing could improve the production of biofuels by algae. Already, companies have created strains of algae to double the production of green biodiesel. Scientists exploring various fields of application, for example controling insects and other animal species that transmit infectious diseases or that are invasive in a particular ecosystem.
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