It’s a Prime Time for Prime Editing!
I recently came across a term just recently, called ‘Prime Editing,’ and no, this is not some important English knowledge you forgot from high school!
If you wrote a huge essay for IB Biology and wrote contractions in your paper, you are not going to read every single word and make sure you did not write any mistakes. You would use the ‘Search and Replace’ shortcut to make your life easier, and not make yourself look like a complete idiot. There would be no trace of any errors for that selected type of error.
That is literally what Prime Editing is!
We are going to be covering 4 topics concerning Prime Editing:
- What the hell is Prime Editing?
- What’s all the hype about?
- How is it Different from CRISPR?
- What will the future hold for Prime Editing?
Here’s some Basic Knowledge You literally need to know before you have a conversation about Prime Editing.
- DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) has two strands contains all your genetic information which is present in almost all living organisms that houses all 23 pairs of chromosomes.
- CRISPR-Cas9 is a gene-editing technique that allows you to edit a specific part of DNA by cutting it and pasting it.
- Each strand of DNA is coded with a 4 letter alphabet, A, T, C, G. The letter A only pairs with T, and C only pairs with the letter G.
- Mutations occur when there is a change in our DNA order as a result of errors when the DNA is copied, or due to environmental factors, i.e. cigarette smoke.
What is Prime Editing?
Prime Editing is an updated version of Base Editors.
Base Editors were designed and created to change one letter of the DNA into another, without using the CRISPR-CAS9 method. This is a new gene-editing tool that could potentially correct up to 89% of DNA errors that cause diseases in our bodies, such as Sickle cell anemia. It was developed by students and professors from MIT and Harvard.
This new method of editing DNA allows you to edit the DNA without a double-strand breakage or a DNA template. This means that there is a very small chance for off-target mutations and unintended editing, the cons of the CRISPR.
Why Should I Care?
Prime Editing is so important. Genetic disorders are affecting about 5% of the children is the world, and their life-span is about 14 years. Children are having their lives stolen from them, just because of a mutation in their DNA, something they have no control over. If we do not cure these diseases, the population with a hereditary disease will only grow exponentially.
By finding the cure, we will not have to witness the devastating death of a child at age 14 and prevent a rise in the percentage with those with a mutation in DNA. No one deserves to suffer in their lives. Good people are forced into paying expensive medical bills, constant stress, and pain. Once Prime Editing fixes the mutation in a child’s DNA, they will finally be able to live the life they dreamed and deserved.
According to Scientist David Liu, he said that ‘… prime editing offers major advantages since it does not require a precisely positioned PAM sequence and is a true “search-and-replace” editing capability, with no possibility of unwanted bystander editing at neighboring bases.’
You can check out David Liu TED Talk, click here!
In what way, is Prime Editing different from CRISPR?
CRISR-Cas9 gene-editing tool is very clunky and very prone to errors. Although when it was discovered, it was ahead of its time, we are in 2020, where we need a better option. Prime Editing improves the chances the researchers will only end up with what they asked for. If they wanted to replace all the T stands in DNA, they are able to do that. Since it reduces errors, it is much safer to use for people.
IN FACT, David Liu and his team estimate that they could handle about 89% of the most than 75,000 disease-associated DNA variants listed in ClinVar, which is a medical database introduced by the US National Institutes of Health.
Prime Editing may not be capable of introducing the very big DNA insertions of detection that CRISPR-Cas9 is capable of, but Prime Editing is much more precise and versatile than other alternatives to CRISPR. However, CRISPR also relies on the cells to repair the damage when tearing both stands of the DDA double helix. The cell repair system is very unreliable and can insert or delete DNA letters at the points where it was cut.
CRISPR relying on the cell is like the United States Medicare. Sure, the program helps you to survive, but you are on your own trying to pay your medical bills that is usually in the thousands! Then you ask yourself, why did I even bother going to the US government to fix myself?
CRISPR also has not been able to reach the clinic and be used to cure diseases in animals and people. This can be blamed on the execution of the process and the precision.
What will the Future Hold for Prime Editing?
The future will be very, very, very exciting. There will be improvements in disease diagnosis, treatments, and prevention. That means that we can potentially prevent cancer and genetic diseases from happening to good people, by just finding the DNA and replacing it! For all children and adults that have cancer, they will know that they can live their normal lives without the constant fear and stress. Prime Editing will be able to generate cells that are needed to help patients to recover and heal.
Moreover, we can also combine Prime Editing and Artificial Intelligence to develop effective autonomous systems.
Let me explain this using some simple terms. By using A.I. and a family of machine learning methods, we can create circuits of neurons in an individual's and animal’s brain! We can conclude, that this can mean that we can influence the development of new algorithms used for self-repair which is very important in our lives. And if you know me, you know that I looooove anything that has to with Artificial Intelligence!!!
TL:DR
- Prime Editing is a ‘Search and Replace’ type of gene editor which only targets a specified type of DNA
- This technology is important to correct any mutations in our DNA which can prevent genetic diseases
- The process is much more complex than CRISPR process.
- Prime Editing tech. will be much easier to use for diagnosing, treating and preventing diseases that are not curable
- Prime Editing and A.I. will become very useful in our lives for medical systems to improve efficiency and precision
Thanks, y’all for reading the article. Trust me, it is deeply appreciated!
Contact me at aaryanj@outlook.com if you have any further questions or would like to get in touch!
