4 ms·

Can someone ELI5 how gene editing works? I understand that CRISPR can target specific genes to make changes but how does that work in practice? Suppose we ide

Can someone ELI5 how gene editing works? I understand that CRISPR can target specific genes to make changes but how does that work in practice? Suppose we identified the gene for Huntington's disease and wanted to design a therapy to snip it out and put a benign replacement in its place. Given the human body contains trillions of cells, each carrying the complete set of genes, which cells would be targeted by the therapy? If the CRISPR therapy targeted only cells in a certain organ or region, does this mean the person would have different sets of genes in different parts of their body? What does this mean for any children born post-treatment? Do they inherit the new genes or are they stuck with the old crappy version?

yellow_viper 10y ago
CRISPR is a newly adopted technology that allows the bacteria in the cell to fight against the Viruses that affects the Human cells. It also allows making some specific changes in the DNA of the Human Being and some other organisms. Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat is the acronym for CRISPR. It is an RNA gene-guided editing platform, which is helping to break a double-stranded DNA at a specific location within the genome by making use of a Protein Coat (Cas9) and a synthetic RNA guide. In the simple life forms like bacteria and another organism, a simple sequence of CRISPR acts as a crucial component of the Immune System for protecting the organisms health. Viruses are the small infectious agents that invade the bacteria in the cells and attack the bacteria. If viral infection threatens this invaded bacteria, then the CRISPR immune system can attack and destroy the genome of the invading virus. The genome of the virus contains the genetic material for its replication. By destroying the genome, the CRISPR immune system protects the bacteria from viral infections. Source:http://www.whitedust.net/what-is-crispr-and-how-can-it-edit-your-dna/ http://www.whitedust.net/what-is-crispr-and-how-can-it-edit-... you can learn more about it and watch the video about CRISPR/Cas9's mechanism and function.
tstactplsignore 10y ago
>Given the human body contains trillions of cells, each carrying the complete set of genes, which cells would be targeted by the therapy? Depends on the disease being treated. Obviously it would be extremely infeasible to edit all cells of all types in an adult human with existing technology. >If the CRISPR therapy targeted only cells in a certain organ or region, does this mean the person would have different sets of genes in different parts of their body? Yes that's correct and would be the case in any proposed adult humam crispr treatment. >What does this mean for any children born post-treatment? Do they inherit the new genes or are they stuck with the old crappy version? Only if the therapy edited the germline cells (sperm and egg), which would probably be unintentional.

yellow_viper 10y ago

CRISPR is a newly adopted technology that allows the bacteria in the cell to fight against the Viruses that affects the Human cells. It also allows making some specific changes in the DNA of the Human Being and some other organisms. Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat is the acronym for CRISPR. It is an RNA gene-guided editing platform, which is helping to break a double-stranded DNA at a specific location within the genome by making use of a Protein Coat (Cas9) and a synthetic RNA guide. In the simple life forms like bacteria and another organism, a simple sequence of CRISPR acts as a crucial component of the Immune System for protecting the organisms health. Viruses are the small infectious agents that invade the bacteria in the cells and attack the bacteria. If viral infection threatens this invaded bacteria, then the CRISPR immune system can attack and destroy the genome of the invading virus. The genome of the virus contains the genetic material for its replication. By destroying the genome, the CRISPR immune system protects the bacteria from viral infections. Source:http://www.whitedust.net/what-is-crispr-and-how-can-it-edit-your-dna/ http://www.whitedust.net/what-is-crispr-and-how-can-it-edit-... you can learn more about it and watch the video about CRISPR/Cas9's mechanism and function.

tstactplsignore 10y ago

>Given the human body contains trillions of cells, each carrying the complete set of genes, which cells would be targeted by the therapy? Depends on the disease being treated. Obviously it would be extremely infeasible to edit all cells of all types in an adult human with existing technology. >If the CRISPR therapy targeted only cells in a certain organ or region, does this mean the person would have different sets of genes in different parts of their body? Yes that's correct and would be the case in any proposed adult humam crispr treatment. >What does this mean for any children born post-treatment? Do they inherit the new genes or are they stuck with the old crappy version? Only if the therapy edited the germline cells (sperm and egg), which would probably be unintentional.