- Researchers found proteins that are ‘potent inhibitors’ against Crispr-Cas9
- Anti-Crispr proteins make procedure more precise to prevent an accident
- And, it would also provide a ‘fail safe’ if the technology falls in the wrong hands
In recent years, the use of gene editing techniques has raised concern among both scientists and the public, with some fearing it could lead to unintended consequences, or even be used to create biological weapons.
Now, researchers have discovered a set of proteins that could act as a kill switch for the Crispr-Cas9 system, potentially blocking both of these outcomes.
Not only would the anti-Crispr proteins make the procedure more precise to prevent an accident from spilling out of control, but the scientists say it would also provide a ‘fail safe’ if the technology falls in the wrong hands.
Not only would the anti-Crispr proteins make the procedure more precise to prevent an accident from spilling out of control, but the scientists say it would also provide a ‘fail safe’ if the technology falls in the wrong hands. A stock image is pictured
Among the many possible applications, it’s hoped that the Crispr-Cas9 system could be used to treat genetic disorders.
It relies on a protein called SpyCas9 as its target DNA ‘clippers’, and to find the off-switch, the researcher investigated the same process that gave rise Crispr-Cas9 itself.
‘Just as Crispr technology was developed from the natural anti-viral defense systems in bacteria, we can also take advantage of the anti-Crispr proteins that viruses have sculpted to get around those bacterial defenses,’ said Benjamin Rauch, PhD, a post-doctoral researcher in the laboratory of Joseph Bondy-Denomy, PhD, and a UCSF Sandler Faculty Fellow in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology.
The researchers looked for evidence of ‘self-targeting’ – bacterial strains where some virus had infiltrated the Cas9 blockade and inserted its own genes into the bacterial genome.
They hypothesized that they must encode an ‘anti-Crispr agent.’
If not, the researchers explained, the Cas9 would cut its own genome where the invader was detected in order to kill off the virus.