Essay Example on Revolutionizing Genome Editing: Introducing Prime Editing Technology

For many years, researchers have tried to develop various techniques, which can be used to make changes in the genome of living organisms. However, in 2016, life scientists came up with a label prime editing, a kind of multipurpose and detailed genome technology that directly writes new genetic information into a DNA site; this has been their inspirations (Yeung n.p). The technique uses Cas9 endonuclease and it is connected to a scientifically reverse transcriptase so as to encode the desired edit. They perform this kind of editing in human cells and what is specifically done includes deletions and insertions. There is also a concept of point mutation. Prime editing is specifically used to correct the genetic causes of sickle cell and Tay-Sachs diseases (Yeung n.p). In sickle cell anemia, prime editing corrects the genes via trans-version in HBB whereas, in Tay-Sachs disease, it does deletion in HEXA. The paper will discuss in detail and demonstrate how new gene-editing collects 89% of genetic defects.

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Prime editing is built on a type of modified protein called Cas9, which resembles a pair of scissors and it plays a role of snipping parts of DNA strands (Anzalone 149). Scientists have fixed the modified protein in that it only targets genes at specific locations with the aim of disrupting a mutation. Anzalone denotes that at many times, most genetic variants that are linked with diseases are single point gene mutations (149). Therefore, they came up with a technological method that can be used to solve the problems; prime editing has the potential of reproducing or correcting any mutations that are witnessed in the human body. Also, Anzalone says that prime editing syndicates the CRISPR-Cas9 technique with proteins that are capable of producing new DNA (150). If at any chance the genome had a defect, the tool transfers the edited sequence to a new strand of DNA hence allowing scientists to delete or insert the parts of cells that are of importance.

Furthermore, the CRISPR-Cas9 method allows scientists to research different types of DNA strands so that they can replace the entire sections of the affected genome without having had to break some sections (World Health Organization 1). The concept allows researchers and scientists to insert or delete cell parts and this efficiently corrects up to 89% of genetic diseases. They use CRISPR-Cas9 in such a way that the modified RNA is set to recognize the DNA sequence (World Health Organization 4). Also, the Cas9 has enzymes, which cut the DNA at targeted points to enable insertion or deletion. Since CRISPR-Cas9 was adopted from a naturally occurring genome editing bacteria, it is used in laboratories to guide scientists manufacture guide sequences that help to treat and prevent human diseases.

Many people, however, do not understand how prime editing is used to treat diseases. It is important to keep in mind that the key building blocks of DNA are guanine, adenine, thymine, and cytosine. Most of these building blocks form a complete manual for maintaining and building the human body except that minor errors can causes diseases or defects. A mutation that is done wrongly results in a certain disease and this also leads to fatal nerve conditions. Prime editing is used when such errors occur and it plays the role of either reversing or collecting. According to the existing data, prime editing fixes 89% of errors can emanate from different mutations (Yeung n.p). Yeung highlights that the reason as to why the other 11% that remains is not fixed is because some people have many copies of genes, which can cause confusion (n.p). Another reason is when some genes that need to be fixed are missing. Prime editing changes the DNA of any living organism at any position, including people who are suffering from serious diseases such as sickle cell anemia.

World Health Organization augments that it is important to change the DNA of any living organism especially when proving a therapeutic model. Prime editing despite being young, it is developing and used widely in the field of study. It was first used in 2016 on humans to help make changes in the targeted DNA site without having to interfere with the DNA (Yeung n.p). However, there have been other developments such as base editing which makes changes to the DNA without cutting any part. Scientists and researchers hope that one day they will come up with a technique that will be targeting bad genes (World Health Organization 16). Also, due to technological advancements, scientists fear that the knowledge in prime editing will aid other unethical researchers to make manipulations to human embryos hence creating unintended mutations.

Conclusion

To conclude, the paper has discussed how prime editing corrects up to 89% of genetic diseases in human germline cells. With respect to the works of researchers and scientists, the analysis has found that prime editing helps to insert delete some genomes, which can be a threat to human life. Prime editing also has contributed to the development of gene therapies, for instance, by writing new genetic information in the DNA. In the last section, some controversies are raised; ethical concerns, especially manipulation of genetic information. The controversy is abominable in nature since changes of genes that are not ethical can be transferred to the next generations.

Works Cited

Anzalone, Andrew V., et al. "Search-and-replace genome editing without double-strand breaks or donor DNA." Target 5 (2019): 3. Retrieved from: https://www.gwern.net/docs/genetics/editing/2019-anzalone.pdf

World Health Organization. "WHO Expert Advisory Committee on Developing Global Standards for Governance and Oversight of Human Genome Editing." Retrieved from: https://www.who.int/ethics/topics/human-genome-editing/WHO-Commissioned-Ethics-paper-March19.pdf

Yeung, Jessie. "New gene-editing technology could correct 89% of genetic defects." CNN Health. 2019. Retrieved from: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/22/health/gene-editing-study-intl-hnk-scli-scn/index.html