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I’m a bacteriologist who uses CRISPR every day, and the biggest problem with CRISPR editing in eukaryotes is off-targets effects, ie, cutting a gene you didn’t
by VeninVidiaVicii 4y ago
I’m a bacteriologist who uses CRISPR every day, and the biggest problem with CRISPR editing in eukaryotes is off-targets effects, ie, cutting a gene you didn’t mean to. In fact, there’s still a lot about CRISPR we don’t understand at all, like why some sequences seem to be great sites for CRISPR to cut and others don’t seem to work reproducibly.
- jdksncnskw 4y agoThank you for your service. 1. What are some examples of off-target effects? 2. Are there any examples of them causing adverse effects in organisms?
- VeninVidiaVicii 4y agoThe most straightforward way to answer the question is that off-target is kind of field lingo for “some other gene got targeted” and results in unexpected cell death. Imagine in bacteria, if I guide the CRISPR components to a gene that metabolizes an exotic sugar and the cell just inexplicably dies—whereas targeting that very gene in a different spot does what you expected. In eukaryotes, off-target effects likely occur more often (more genes) but we just don’t see them, because the off-target effect wasn’t immediately fatal. Instead, maybe a tumor suppressor gene got rearranged? It might take decades to see the physiological effect.