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Mahesh

15/09/22 05:49 AM IST

CRISPR

In News 
  • Over the last 3 years, the gene-editing technology with near unlimited potential has produced flawless results in clinical trials. India has approved a 5-year project to develop CRISPR to cure sickle cell anaemia.
About CRISPR
  • CRISPR is short for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, which is a reference to the clustered and repetitive sequences of DNA found in bacteria, whose natural mechanism to fight some viral diseases is replicated in this gene-editing tool.
  • Its mechanism is often compared to the ‘cut-copy-paste’, or ‘find-replace’ functionalities in common computer programmes.
  • A bad stretch in the DNA sequence, which is the cause of disease or disorder, is located, cut, and removed — and then replaced with a ‘correct’ sequence. And the tools used to achieve this are not mechanical, but biochemical — specific protein and RNA molecules.
  • The technology replicates a natural defence mechanism in some bacteria that uses a similar method to protect itself from virus attacks. 
Applications 
  • Most uses of genome editing have been in scientific research –for example, to investigate models of human disease.
  • Several therapeutic interventions using CRISPR for diseases like thalassaemia or sickle cell anaemia have gone into clinical trials
  • This will avoid most of the avoidable deaths in (e.g., due to cancer) in poor countries.
  • Identifying threats: genome editing has been used to develop a suite of tools that scientists can use to better understand new and existing pathogens.
  • This can help to develop and poor countries are prepared for incoming threats of diseases.
  • Developing new treatments: the potential of genome editing to impact the development and use of new treatments is tremendous.
  • Genome-editing technologies have a major advantage over traditional drugs in that they can target the genetic basis of disease. This can drastically lower the cost of life-threatening diseases.
  • Treating genetic diseases: it has huge potential in the field of genetic diseases.
  • Poor countries like Nigeria, Sudan and tribals in India have witnessed the rise in cases of diseases like Sickle cell anaemia, thalassemia etc.
Source- Indian Express 

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