
THIS VISUAL ABSTRACT DEPICTS THE FINDING THAT NATURALLY OCCURRING INHIBITORS OF CRISPR-CAS9 CAN BLOCK GENOME EDITING IN CULTURED HUMAN CELLS, PROVIDING A MEANS TO SPATIALLY, TEMPORALLY, AND CONDITIONALLY CONTROL CAS9.
CREDIT: PAWLUK ET AL./CELL 2016
Researchers have discovered a way to program cells to inhibit CRISPR-Cas9 activity. “Anti-CRISPR” proteins had previously been isolated from viruses that infect bacteria, but now University of Toronto and University of Massachusetts Medical School scientists report three families of proteins that turn off CRISPR systems specifically used for gene editing. The work, which appears December 15 in Cell, offers a new strategy to prevent CRISPR-Cas9 technology from making unwanted changes.
“Making CRISPR controllable allows you to have more layers of control on the system and to turn it on or off under certain conditions, such as where it works within a cell or at what point in time,” says lead author Alan Davidson, a phage biologist and bacteriologist at the University of Toronto. “The three anti-CRISPR proteins we’ve isolated seem to bind to different parts of the Cas9, and there are surely more out there.”
CRISPR inhibitors are a natural byproduct of the evolutionary arms race between viruses and bacteria. Bacteria use CRISPR-Cas complexes to target and cut up genetic material from invading viruses. In response, viruses have developed proteins that, upon infection, can quickly bind to a host bacterium’s CRISPR-Cas systems, thus nullifying their effects.
Anti-CRISPR proteins are attractive experimentally because they offer one solution for preventing potential off-target effects. Research in mice has shown that such mistakes may be rare when using CRISPR-Cas9 technology, but even the occasional error could be a serious problem when being used therapeutically in humans.
“CRISPR-Cas9 in ancillary cells, tissues, or organs is at best useless and at worst a safety risk,” says co-author and collaborator Erik J. Sontheimer, a professor in the RNA Therapeutics Institute at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. “But if you could build an off-switch that keeps Cas9 inactive everywhere except the intended target tissue, then the tissue specificity will be improved.”
“Knowing we have a safety valve will allow people to develop many more uses for CRISPR,” says co-author Karen Maxwell, an assistant professor in biochemistry who is also at the University of Toronto. “Things that may have been too risky previously might be possible now.”
While the work will be of great interest to those studying gene editing and gene drives, Davidson’s team is also curious to follow up on the biology of how bacterial CRISPRs and viral anti-CRISPRs interact.
“We didn’t set out to find anti-CRISPRs, we were just trying to understand how phages incorporate themselves into bacterial genomes and stumbled onto something that I think will be important for biotechnology,” Davidson says.
“We were being observant and following a path that we didn’t know where it could lead, and it’s just been a very fun and exciting story.”
Learn more:Â An anti-CRISPR for gene editing
[osd_subscribe categories=’crispr’ placeholder=’Email Address’ button_text=’Subscribe Now for any new posts on the topic “CRISPR”‘]
Receive an email update when we add a new CRISPRÂ article.
The Latest on: Anti-CRISPR
[google_news title=”” keyword=”anti-CRISPR” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Anti-CRISPR
- Las nuevas técnicas de edición génica permitirán hacer CAR-T más sofisticados, sin dañar el ADNon January 31, 2023 at 9:27 am
Según José María Moraleda, las nuevas técnicas de edición génica permitirán hacer CAR-T más sofisticados, sin dañar el ADN ...
- Panier anti-inflation : quels sont les produits proposéson January 31, 2023 at 1:01 am
Qu'est-ce que le panier anti-inflation ? Pour faire face à l'augmentation des prix de la vie courante et soutenir les Français, le gouvernement met en place un panier anti-inflation. Alors qu'il ...
- Las nuevas técnicas de edición génica permitirán diseñar una terapia CAR-T más sofisticadaon January 30, 2023 at 8:01 am
La terapia celular volvió a ser protagonista del Congreso Anual de la Asociación Americana de Hematología (ASH en sus siglas inglesas), tal y como se ha puesto de manifiesto en la reunión nacional de ...
- Expertos creen que las nuevas técnicas de edición génica permitirán diseñar una terapia CAR-T "más sofisticada"on January 30, 2023 at 3:39 am
Las nuevas técnicas de edición génica permitirán diseñar una terapia CAR-T "más sofisticada", según han asegurado diversos expertos durante la reunión nacional de conclusiones del Congreso Anual de la ...
- Les meilleurs sérums anti-âge aux peptides pour lutter contre les rides et riduleson January 24, 2023 at 8:37 am
Comment bien choisir son soin anti-âge aux peptides ? Quels sont les meilleurs produits à shopper ? Découvrez tous nos conseils. Les peptides sont les nouveaux actifs stars des soins anti-âge, ...
- CRISPR Therapeutics AG : JMP Securities optimiste sur le dossieron January 19, 2023 at 7:00 am
2022 CRISPR Therapeutics nomme Alex Harding, M.D., M.B.A., au poste de chef du développement..
- La edición génica: una revolución nacida de viajes en el espacio y en el tiempoon January 10, 2023 at 4:00 pm
Por qué? Porque en estos años el sistema CRISPR-Cas se ha convertido en una importante herramienta para encontrar los mejores tratamientos para patologías de origen genético que hasta ahora no tenían ...
- TR10: CRISPR contra el colesterol altoon January 10, 2023 at 4:00 pm
Martine Rothblatt cree que llegará el día en el que los órganos trasplantables y los impresos en 3D estarán fácilmente disponibles, salvando innumerables vidas, incluida la de su hija ...
- Descubierto un nuevo tipo de tijeras genéticas CRISPRon January 4, 2023 at 11:19 am
Redacción Ciencia, 4 ene (EFE).- Un equipo de investigadores ha descubierto un nuevo tipo de tijeras genéticas CRISPR. Se trata de una proteína que actúa como una especie de sistema de autodestrucción ...
via Bing News