Scissoring the DNA: On Chemistry Nobel (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 3: Science and Tech
Prelims level: DNA editing 
Mains level: Developments and their applications and effects in everyday life

Context:

• That scientists who pioneered the revolutionary CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology, the biggest game-changer in biology in recent years, will win the Nobel Prize was never in doubt.

 Rewriting the code of life:

• It was only a question of when and who would get recognised for the work done to develop the tool.

• The Prize awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna, just eight years after they developed the tool, has finally ended the speculation of who would win it.

• But most importantly, this year’s Prize for chemistry has created history by honouring an all-woman team.

• It all started when Dr. Charpentier discovered an RNA molecule that is part of bacteria’s ancient immune system — CRISPR-Cas — wherein clustered repeated sequences produced by bacteria can remember and destroy viruses by cleaving their DNA.

• Teaming with Dr. Doudna, she recreated the bacteria’s genetic scissors in a test tube and simplified the tool to make it easier to programme the system to precisely cut specific sites of interest in any DNA, including humans.

• While the tool is most often used to make a cut in the DNA, newer approaches are being attempted to add or make minor changes to the DNA.

• All these approaches may at some time in the future make it easy to “rewrite the code of life”.

Opening new opportunities:

• The gene-editing technology has opened up a vast window of opportunity.

• In the last six years, the tool has enabled scientists to edit human DNA in a dish. 

• Also, an early-stage clinical trials are being attempted to use the tool to treat a few diseases, including inherited disorders/diseases and some types of cancer.

• In 2016 China began the first human clinical trial to treat an aggressive form of lung cancer by introducing cells that contain genes edited using CRISPR-Cas9.

• The use of the tool has so far been limited to curing genetic diseases in animal models.

• Last year, a Chinese researcher used the tool to modify a particular gene in the embryo to make babies immune to HIV infection, which led to international furore.

• Though no guidelines have been drawn up so far, there is a general consensus in the scientific and ethics communities that the gene-editing technique should not be used clinically on embryos.

• Unlike in the case of humans, the tool is being extensively used in agriculture.

• It is being tried out in agriculture primarily to increase plant yield, quality, disease resistance, herbicide resistance and domestication of wild species.

• The huge potential to edit genes using this tool has been used to create a large number of crop varieties with improved agronomic performance; it has also brought in sweeping changes to breeding technologies.

• The gene-editing tool has indeed taken “life sciences into a new epoch”.

Conclusion:

• The huge potential of the gene-editing tool decided the chemistry Nobel.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1) With reference to the National Forensic Sciences University Bill 2020, consider the following statements:
1. The Bill is to establish the Gujarat Forensic Sciences University, Gandhinagar and the Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Sciences, New Delhi, as a National Forensic Sciences University, Gujarat.
2. The Bill declares the University to be an institution of national importance.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: C

Mains Questions:

Q.1) What is the DNA editing? How this technology works?