Genome Editing: How Far is Too Far?
The symptoms begin to develop during the first 3 to 6 months of infancy. The tissue development slows and the muscles weaken. Basic motor skills are lost as the child begins to find it difficult to crawl and even turn over. It only continues to progress. The child suffers seizures, hearing and vision loss, mental disabilities, and eventually, paralysis. Tay-Sachs disease is a brutal genetic disorder that continuously eats away at a person both mentally and physically, destroying nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. No cure exists. However, if detected early on in the pregnancy, there are steps one can take to avoid such tragedy. This is the nightmare of genetic diseases. Unlike viral epidemics like Ebola, genetic disorders like Cystic Fibrosis and Huntington’s are caused by slight differences in the DNA. Though very rare in occurrence, there are no cures, only treatments to ameliorate the complications. This is because it would involve changing the basics of our genetic makeup, patching the error in every cell from the ground up. What we are talking about is editing our genome, hacking into the code of life.
Genetic engineering is already an important part of lives today. We use it to produce fruits and vegetables with longer shelf lives, to grow crops resistant to changes in climate, and to raise animals with unique abilities like see-through skin to further scientific research. Think about the basis behind the iconic film franchise Jurassic Park, where animals of the past are brought back through the meticulous reconstruction of whatever DNA could still be salvaged from the blood of ancient mosquitoes trapped in amber. Though as science fiction as it may seem, we are reaching high levels of genetic engineering today that already allow us to have a say in which traits we decide to give an organism.
The Key to the Genome
The key involves the recent breakthrough of CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats), present in the bacterial defense system. Like a GPS, it has the ability to target certain parts of the DNA and edit them precisely at those locations. Saving copies of remnants of past viral infections, CRISPR allows for quick identifications and destruction of future bacteriophages upon their return. Once modified, scientists have been able to use the CRISPR system to activate specific genes in the sequence to study its functions. It has a become a gene editing tool capable of correcting the slightest faults in the vast expanse of the genome, down to a single letter.
Though other highly costly methods have been in existence for some time, nothing has been as precise and efficient. Traditional methods involves the use of separate restriction enzymes to cut DNA, an ability CRISPR has already built into itself. Scientists can easily modify the guidance RNA sequences in order to tailor them to track the specific DNA of diseases. It even has the ability to target multiple genes at once, unlike its traditional gene editing counterparts, expediting the process. Even now, new, more versatile versions of the method such as CRISPR Cpf1 are being developed.
Applications
So what are the possibilities of this seemingly miracle breakthrough? Already, researchers of numerous companies and scientific institutions are working on using this tool to make treatments for medical conditions including lung cancer, congenital blindness, and sickle cell anemia. Scientists of Emory University have used CRISPR-Cas9 to snip the DNA of laboratory mice afflicted with the human gene that causes Huntington’s disease. Within weeks, results showed that the harmful proteins caused by the defective gene have almost completely disappeared from the brain, with the subjects showing improvement in motor abilities and other neural functions. The Cas9 enzyme has also demonstrated promise in mouse models of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a disease that causes crippling muscle degeneration. With further studies, we may even be able to eradicate one of our greatest enemies, cancer, forever. The potential is endless.
Should We Go Further?
As we grow ever closer to perfecting this method, the problem has gradually turned from overcoming the obstacles in discovering what we can do to how far should we go. Imagine how wonderful would it be to be able to rid your future child of any potential genetic mutations. While you’re at it, why not also give your child enhanced metabolism or perfect vision. Perhaps you may want them to have a certain hair color, broader shoulders, or increased stamina. It is rather difficult to argue against curing a child of an imminent disease that he or she may suffer through for an entire lifetime. However, once we reach that threshold of scientific understanding, what is there to hold us back from doing more? What will the appearance of genetically superior humans do to our society? How will athletic events be regulated when someone physically designed to compete decides to enter? Will it be fair to sit for testing alongside someone who is quite literally “gifted” with intelligence? What are the chances that our society begins to form a social pyramid with those with the superior genes on top and those who can’t compete being forced to the bottom, slaving away at menial jobs.
It is one thing to stop the progression of a genetic disease continuously passed down a family line. It is another to go on a shopping spree of enhancements, attempting to design the ideal human being, one letter at a time. Once such scientific possibilities become a reality, there is no turning back. Think about the past. Since the debut of the first atomic bomb towards the end of World War II, the secrets of the weapon have been spread to almost every major world power. The Cuban Missile Crisis of the Cold War once brought us to the brink of mutually assured destruction. Even now, we are struggling in our nuclear policies with countries like North Korea, determined to obtain a foothold in military might. When it comes to genome manipulation, it is no different. If we don’t, others will. Just imagine a dictator with an army of genetically enhanced super soldiers, ready to set out on the world on command.
Still, coming from a society of nomadic hunter gatherers, we’ve managed to reach as high as the moon and as low as the ocean depths. Why should we stifle the next step of our progress as a species now? Although such ideas seem like science fiction of the distant future, the foundations have already been laid. The possibilities are very much real.
