5 ms·

Can someone explain in simple terms what is the usefulness of this finding?

boredumb 3y ago
biotech uses lots of random enzymes to "cut" DNA strands in different places to reassemble them how they need them, this discovery just means there are more available sources for them to use now so I'd guess it'll help make their lab work slightly less expensive.
pazimzadeh 3y ago
Similar applications as CRISPR gene editing, except with a potentially lower rate of being rejected by the human immune system because it comes from other things than bacteria (CRISPR is from bacteria). So these things have a better chance of be used to repair mutations in your genome live on the spot, rather than being constrained to being used in a test tube (which is still useful). Cas9 immunity creates challenges for CRISPR gene editing therapies https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-05843-9 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-05843-9
jart 3y ago
Other species have experimented with DNA editing and they turned out looking like balls of slime.
- reportgunner 3y ago
  I hope we can un-slime them now to find out all of their secrets.
- alexpotato 3y ago
  Any favorite examples?
- lamontcg 3y ago
  The reason why mammals have a placenta and live birth is due to the incorporation of an ancient syncytium-producing retrovirus in our genomes.
  - PawgerZ 3y ago
    Very interesting, Thank you for sharing. I just took a little look into this, and I'm definitely going to research it more. Do you know of other cases similar to this, where a virus is incorporated into our genome? Or where I can look into it more?
    - lamontcg 3y ago
      You can find more about that in the lecture on retroviruses here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07Zu1sWKuuE&list=PLGhmZX2NKiNkAKAp3BynockFLUiCkZ8aJ&index=9 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07Zu1sWKuuE&list=PLGhmZX2NKi...
sam_goody 3y ago
Eventually, if we have enough differing examples, we may be understand how to edit DNA CRISPR style directly, without needing bacteria to do the actual splicing for us.
PaulHoule 3y ago
There’s usefulness but also the pure science that RNA is a highly versatile part of living systems. Specifically, RNA can play the role of a genetic coding material but it can also play the enzyme role that proteins play. It’s possible that before “life as we know it” existed there was an “RNA world” where RNA played the role that RNA plays today, plus the role of DNA, plus the role of proteins. Thus there has to be a lot to learn about tricks RNA can play and also a large range of technical applications. There has been talk about pharmaceutical applications of RNA since the 1970s but it has taken decades for it to arrive, for instance now we have the mRNA vaccine platforms, RNA silencing pesticides and it may well turn out to be practical to engineer RNA enzymes so it’s an exciting area of practical research too.

biotech uses lots of random enzymes to "cut" DNA strands in different places to reassemble them how they need them, this discovery just means there are more available sources for them to use now so I'd guess it'll help make their lab work slightly less expensive.

pazimzadeh 3y ago

Similar applications as CRISPR gene editing, except with a potentially lower rate of being rejected by the human immune system because it comes from other things than bacteria (CRISPR is from bacteria). So these things have a better chance of be used to repair mutations in your genome live on the spot, rather than being constrained to being used in a test tube (which is still useful). Cas9 immunity creates challenges for CRISPR gene editing therapies https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-05843-9 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-05843-9

jart 3y ago

Other species have experimented with DNA editing and they turned out looking like balls of slime.

reportgunner 3y ago
I hope we can un-slime them now to find out all of their secrets.
alexpotato 3y ago
Any favorite examples?
lamontcg 3y ago
The reason why mammals have a placenta and live birth is due to the incorporation of an ancient syncytium-producing retrovirus in our genomes.
- PawgerZ 3y ago
  Very interesting, Thank you for sharing. I just took a little look into this, and I'm definitely going to research it more. Do you know of other cases similar to this, where a virus is incorporated into our genome? Or where I can look into it more?
  - lamontcg 3y ago
    You can find more about that in the lecture on retroviruses here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07Zu1sWKuuE&list=PLGhmZX2NKiNkAKAp3BynockFLUiCkZ8aJ&index=9 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07Zu1sWKuuE&list=PLGhmZX2NKi...

sam_goody 3y ago

Eventually, if we have enough differing examples, we may be understand how to edit DNA CRISPR style directly, without needing bacteria to do the actual splicing for us.

PaulHoule 3y ago

There’s usefulness but also the pure science that RNA is a highly versatile part of living systems. Specifically, RNA can play the role of a genetic coding material but it can also play the enzyme role that proteins play. It’s possible that before “life as we know it” existed there was an “RNA world” where RNA played the role that RNA plays today, plus the role of DNA, plus the role of proteins. Thus there has to be a lot to learn about tricks RNA can play and also a large range of technical applications. There has been talk about pharmaceutical applications of RNA since the 1970s but it has taken decades for it to arrive, for instance now we have the mRNA vaccine platforms, RNA silencing pesticides and it may well turn out to be practical to engineer RNA enzymes so it’s an exciting area of practical research too.