Code One

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Prime machining can be made precise changes to the DNA.

say, A new path that might fix the editing The Code of life 89% of the errors in DNA that cause diseases, American scientists.

The technology, the editing so-called prime, was described as a "genetic word processor" in the situation, just to re-write the genetic code.

It was used to correct harmful mutations in the laboratory, including those that cause sickle-cell anemia.

The Team at the Broad Institute say it is "very versatile and precise", but stress that the research is just beginning.

we Can already edit the DNA?

Prime processing is the latest development in the area of gene editing, developing at an unbelievable pace.

Our DNA is the instructions for the construction and operation of our facilities. It is in almost every one of our cells.

to be able to tweak DNA by gene-editing is the conversion of scientific research, promising the medicine and questions from the depths to revolutionize the moral and ethical questions about the development of babies, to have the were gene-edited protection against HIV.

Much of the excitement focuses on a technique called Crispr-Cas9, which was developed seven years ago.

DNA for The Right job-And Then scans, like a microscopic pair of scissors, she cuts it in two.

This creates the possibility to edit the DNA.

However, the changes are not always perfect and the cuts in the wrong place. Both issues are a problem for the use of technology in medicine.

The Promise of the prime-machining precision.

As the prime editorial work?

The study, prime machining insert precisely or delete sections of the DNA, as well as correcting typos in a single "letter" of the three billion which Make Up the human genetic code.

One of the researchers, Dr. David Liu, said: "you can think of, prime editors, such as word-processors, capable of, on the search for the target DNA sequences and accurately replaced.

"Prime-editors provide targeting flexibility and greater machining precision. "

Prime the processing is the same as pressing Ctrl-F, the pressed bit of text you want to change, And Then press Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V to copy the new text (or the command key if you are a mac user).

The technology uses a lab-made sequence of the genetic code. This has two roles, a certain part of the DNA that you want to edit, and The Other contains The Change that you want to make.

This is coupled with an enzyme (called Reverse Transcriptase ) that copies of the relevant changes in the DNA.

It was developed by researchers at the Broad Institute of mit and Harvard in Massachusetts.

As the prime can handle editing?

The fundamental building blocks of DNA, The Four bases adenine, cytosine, guanine and thymine are. They are commonly known by their respective letters, A, C, G and T.

Three billion of these letters the complete guide for the establishment and maintenance of the human body, but seemingly small error can cause the Disease .

A mutation, a certain A in a T results in The Most common form of sickle cell Disease .

Our genetic code is represented by a string of As, Cs, Gs and Ts.

Tay-Sachs Disease , a rare and fatal nerve condition that is often caused by the addition of extra four-letter code.

Prime processing was used to reverse-genetic error in experiments on human cells in the laboratory.

There are about 75,000 different mutations that can cause Disease in people. Dr. Liu estimates that prime has to fix the potential, 89% of them.

The Other 11% are times when people have too many copies of a gene (genetic instruction), or if the entire gene is missing.

"Prime edit is the beginning, but as the end of a long-standing ambition in the molecular life sciences, in order to be able to any DNA change that in any position of a living cell or organism, including possibly human patients with genetic diseases," said Dr. Liu said.

How long Will it take?

The Challenge - as with all other gene-editing technologies - always the molecular machinery that is capable of performing these changes on The Right -hand parts of the human body and to ensure that they are safe.

As with other gene-editing technologies, it is likely The First applications to be reviewed in diseases, in which cells from The Body , processed, to ensure that you are safe and back in.

would be removed to some blood diseases such as sickle cell anemia or thalassemias, the bone marrow and re-used.

"We can fix to be able to "" do well-known human variants associated with the Disease , but the ability to be in The Right cell, and in a clinically relevant way to a time way," said Dr. Hilary Sheppard of the University of Auckland.

What do The Experts think?

Professor Robin Lovell-Badge, from the Francis Crick Institute, told Bbc News : "This is an excellent piece of work, typical of the careful, step-by-step, clever and inventive approach, by David Liu.

"Because the vast majority of human genetic diseases can be corrected by the types of mutation, the prime processing, and the methods I hope prove to be useful in therapies for such diseases.

"of course, much more work Will be necessary to find the optimization of the methods and ways to deliver the components efficiently, before they could promise to provide to be used clinically for the treatment of patients, but they certainly are.

Dr. Helen O'neill, of UCL, said: "This exciting research shows yet another expansion of the genome-editing toolbox that enables more precise machining capability and efficiency.

"The research was verified in vitro in human cells with an impressive 175 different processing examples, including some of the more difficult diseases. "

Follow James

genetics, dna, crispr, medical research

Source of news: bbc.com