BOL

A genome-engineering tool known as Crispr may allow scientists to alter the DNA of humans, animals and plants, a research breakthrough that promises to make a significant impact on science and fighting diseases, according to a March 3 story in the New York Times. Scientists hope Crispr might also be used for genomic surgery, as it were, to correct errant genes that cause disease.

A rescently publication paper ( http://jb.asm.org/content/169/12/5429.long )shows significance of an unusual repeated DNA sequences next to a gene in a common bacterium, and their scientific significance. The sequences, it turns out, are part of a sophisticated immune system that bacteria use to fight viruses. And that system, whose very existence was unknown until about seven years ago, may provide scientists with unprecedented power to rewrite the code of life. This means a genome can be edited, much as a writer might change words or fix spelling errors. It allows “customizing the genome of any cell or any species at will,”.

Reference:

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/03/prweb11636031.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/04/health/a-powerful-new-way-to-edit-dna.html?hpw&rref=health

http://jb.asm.org/content/169/12/5429.long