Ten years ago, I remember talking to my mom about becoming a superhero after reading Captain Underpants. I would tell her about being able to fly and having laser-vision. Although we are still far from making humans fly, we are able to create super babies and give desired traits.
With the introduction of CRISPR, genes could be edited which would solve many of the world’s hereditary diseases. CRISPR, which stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, was an idea first proposed in December 1987. After being investigated and utilized in experiments, scientists were able to make this idea a reality. With the use of a Cas9 enzyme, scientists would be able to break DNA strands and “paste” the correct code.
Soon, Harvard and MIT discover an updated version of CRISPR that comes about and gets called Prime Editing. Prime editing became a breakthrough in gene editing, making it safer and more efficient.
Now that Prime Editing has been introduced, how does it work?
Prime Editing consists of a Cas9 enzyme, an RNA strand, and a reverse transcriptase. The PegRNA has two special components: a binding region and an edited sequence. The binding region is responsible for bringing the Cas9 enzyme to the target site of the DNA that needs to be edited.
Then the Cas9 Enzyme will bind to the target DNA and nicks one strand of the DNA. In order to paste the correct sequence in the place of the original DNA, it is run through another protein called Reverse Transcriptase which will generate the correct sequence. Using the edited sequence of the PegRNA, the Reverse Transcriptase will read the edited information of RNA and will reversely create the DNA that will take the place of the target site. After the edited DNA has been produced, an endonuclease will come and glow the new DNA with the old DNA.
Now that the edited sequence has joined the family, it needs to feel comfortable and welcome. To do so, another PegRNA comes and nicks the other DNA strand that remained unedited. This nicked strand will be used as a template for the cell to create a strand that will help the edited strand match.
The Importance of This Emerging Technology
With Prime Editing revolutionizing science and technology, scientists would be able to solve some of the world’s greatest problems. Scientists will be able to modify genes to protect from many diseases.
According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 1,700,000 Americans are affected by cancer and there will be over 600,000 deaths. Cancer, which has affected millions of lives around the world, has long been uncurable. However, Prime Editing might be a major solution to this major conflict. This new technology will be able to modify the genes of the cancer cell and will prevent it from further expanding and growing.
Other than cancer, Prime Editing could also cure blindness. Many infants are born with blindness that comes from a genetic mutation. Although there is no treatment to help with eyesight loss, Prime Editing would be able to help edit the genes of the infant and the infant would be able to see clearly.
Not only will Prime Editing cure diseases, but it can also help protect plants from further harm due to climate change. By altering the genes in the plant, scientists will be able to build a plant that will not be affected by climate change.
The Difference Between CRISPR and Prime Editing
First, CRISPR uses the CAS9 enzyme that breaks both strands of the DNA and relies on the cell to repair the damage done to the DNA. However, this repair is often unreliable because it causes a mistake in the genome that leads to a mutation that will alter or even turn off the gene. Even when it uses a template for editing, the cell repair is likely to add small insertions or deletions into the DNA that messes up the whole genome.
Prime Editing is able to bypass all of these complications. While also using the Cas9, it is modified to only break or nick one strand of DNA. Then reverse transcriptase and a guide RNA are used to help edit the DNA. In other words, Prime Editing makes gene editing much safer and more efficient.
The Future of Prime Editing
Prime editing will offer a new way to make changes to DNA and revolutionize how we better treat diseases and mutations in the body. Although this new technique is still in its early stages, innovators are ready to provide more accuracy to the current uses of genetic editing.
