VATIS UPDATE Article

CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Palindromic Repeats) gene editing technology allows permanent modification of genes within organisms. Since its discovery, it is considered a breakthrough in biotechnology ever. Researchers from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, led by Guillermo Montoya, now went one step further. They discovered how Cpf1, a new type of molecular scissors, unzip and cleave DNA. In their study, the scientific team described how this new system for genome editing works for the first time.

The Cpf1 protein enables the cleavage of double stranded DNA, allowing the initiation of the genome modification process. It is a member of the CRISPR-Cas family and acts like a GPS in order to identify its destination within the genome. Because the molecular scissors are highly precise in identifying the target DNA sequence, they enable safer modifications and editing instructions written in genome.

Researchers from Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research, Denmark, used an X-ray Crystallography, to illuminate molecular structures and observe structures at atomic resolution. The structure reveals the machinery involved in DNA unwinding to form a CRISPR RNA (crRNA) – DNA hybrid and a displaced DNA strand. Applications for CRISPR/Cas9 system for cutting and pasting genome sequences are growing fast. The technology is already being used to modify animal and plant genomes and is starting to be adopted for human therapy.