Could we delete diseases passed down through our DNA?
Could we delete diseases passed down through our DNA?
Tags: CRISPR, Gene drive synthetic, Invasive species, RodentsE. Rayne, SYFY, 2022.
What has now been proven possible was once the stuff of science fiction dreams. CRISPR has shown it can successfully edit out detrimental genetic conditions before they are inherited — which could mean the beginning of the end for hereditary diseases. It could also help obliterate invasive species from ecosystems under attack. Imagine if gene editing could delete conditions you never asked to be born with while getting rid of the cane toad invasion in Australia. CRISPR-Cas9 has been able to successfully edit DNA again and again, but it’s never done anything like this. Kind of like DNA autocorrecting itself, the editing needs to make deletion in a cell happen during a certain phase of meiosis. Researcher Kimberly Cooper of UC San Diego, who coauthored a study recently published in PLOS Biology, figured out exactly when to get to that meiotic window and how to control which copies of genes are handed down to the next generation.