For the first time, scientists in the US have successfully used gene-editing tools on human embryos to correct defective DNA that cause inherited diseases.
The effort involved changing the DNA of a large number of one-cell embryos with gene-editing technique CRISPR.
CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats.
CRISPR - Cas9 is a most prominent genome editing technique by targeting specific stretches of genetic code to edit DNA at precise locations.
CRISPR is a collection of DNA sequences that direct Cas9 where to cut and paste. Cas9 is an enzyme that can edit DNA, allowing the alteration of genetic patterns by genome modification.
The technique allows researchers to permanently modify genes in living cells and organisms and to correct mutations at precise locations in the human genome to treat genetic causes of disease.
It can be used to target multiple genes simultaneously and can also activate gene expression instead of cutting the DNA.
CRISPR-Cas9 technology has the potential to revolutionise the treatment of blood diseases, tumours and other genetic diseases.