Editing our genes

Editing our genes

News:

1. Bioethicists have expressed concern over the clinical application of gene editing.

Important Facts:

2.  About Gene Editing

• It is a group of technologies that give scientists the ability to change an organism’s DNA by allowing genetic material to be added, removed, or altered at particular locations.

3. 3. About CRISPR-Cas9 system

• The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats(CRISPR) and associated protein 9 (Cas9) is faster, cheaper, more accurate and more efficient than other existing genome editing methods.
• It is adapted from a naturally occurring genome editing system in bacteria.
• It acts like a pair of molecular scissors (by enzymes like Cas9) and snips the two DNA strands at a specific location and modify gene function.

4. Benefits of Gene editing tools:

• Gene editing tool has transformed medical research by removing a faulty gene at embryonic stage.
• Recently China used a variation of Crispr to correct Marfan Syndrome, an inherited disorder that affects connective tissue.
• In 2017, American biologists used Crispr to repair a genetic mutation that could cause a deadly heart condition.

5. Concerns of Gene editing:

• Health issues: Studies have shown that edited cells can lack a cancer suppressing protein which can raise new fatal health concerns in future.

Ethical concerns: Bioethicists fear abuse of gene editing, not just by misguided governments hoping to create a ‘superior’ race, but also by the private sector preying on a parent’s desire to create a perfect child.