Scientists Institute Francis Creek in the UK showed that editing the embryos genome using CRISPR-CAS9 technology, for which the Nobel Prize was presented in 2020, could lead to undesirable mutations. This method is considered a more advanced approach to making changes to DNA than other methods. The article of scientists about the alarm opening was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Biologists analyzed the data obtained in previous studies in which the OCT4 protein functions in human embryos during the first few days of development. In most cases, Crispr-Cas9-induced mutations were small inserts, deletions (deletes of sites), and at about 16 percent samples there were large unintentional mutations, which could be avoided using traditional DNA editing methods.
Thus, researchers using CRISPR-CAS9-indirect editing of the genome to edit human cells, both somatic and germs, should be aware of the potential unforeseen consequences and identify unwanted mutations. In clinical trials, such genetic changes are potentially capable of cancer.
Crispr-Cas9 is genetic “scissors” whose bacteria use in combating viruses. Scientists with this change the nucleotide sequence of DNA. Cas9 protein cuts a double chain on a specific portion of the gene. This place (site) defines the RNA guide (SGRNA), which is associated with the specific recognition site, pointing to CAS9, where the cut will be cut. If there is a DNA segment next to the cut, then it is automatically embedded in the chain.
In 2020, for the opening of the CRISPR system in the bacteria and the development of new technologies for editing the genome of the Nobel Prize, Emmanuel Charpenier and Jennifer Doudna are awarded.