Crispr-Cas9

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Crispr stands for clustered regularly Interspaced Palindromic Regions, while cas9 is a restriction enzyme cutting DNA from a specific site. The Crispr sequences are derived from bacteriophages affecting bacteria previously, bacterium recognizes the sequences and degrades it. One of the major contributions regarding crispr-cas9 was brought about by an eminent biochemist and geneticist Jennifer Duodna and a French researcher Emmenuella Cherpentier. They were also awarded with Nobel Prize for their remarkable contributions to science in 2020.



Crispr-Cas9 is one of the latest gene-editing tools to cure genetic disorders by genetic manipulation. The process takes place naturally in bacterium as a defensive mechanism against viruses. During the process, guide RNA binds with specific complementary sequence resulting in the formation of RNA-DNA hybrid, guide RNA makes sure that DNA should be cut from the specific site. Consequently, complex is degraded by the enzyme cas9. Repair mechanism arrives to repair the genetic damage. Genetic changes can be introduced as a result of repair mechanisms. In human, there is immune system to protect themselves from the harmful invaders, similarly, bacteria protect themselves from such invaders by employing the mechanism of crispr-cas9. 




Scientists have exploited the natural phenomenon to find out the cure for many genetic disorders including sickle cell anemia, thalassemia etc. Apart from that, Bases can be added or deleted to introduce a desired trait in a particular organism. The process can be used to find out the function of a particular gene. 



One of the limitations technology is facing is the "off-targets", crispr-cas9 can target or edit the gene we don't want to edit. Scientists are using different tools to eliminate the possibility of off-targets to obtain the most accurate results. 





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