CRIPR/CAS9 Technology
CRISPR/CAS9: Advancements and Potential
"CRISPR/CAS9, additionally referred to as clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat, is a kind of genome editing tool. It is accountable for the genome modification in a variety of dwelling organisms. The progress made in the improvement of this science is described as the new era of molecular biology (Ali, et al. P 50). This essay will look at the use and the moral concerns on the CRISPR technology and whether or not in years to come it will be useful to the people at large.
The Discovery and Benefits
The discovery of the CRISPR has been given a lot of benefits and credits are given to the founders, California University. This technology can be used to cure genetic defects, helping in the prevention of diseases in the various living organisms and for an extended period, it can end organ transplant shortage in the different hospitals. There is also caution in the use of the genetic mutation since once one person finds ways to acquire it, it can spread at a high rate and make the results irreversible(Cong, et al. P40).
Potential Uses and Applications
Potential uses of this technology as outlined and tested by the scientist. First, it can be used to cure several diseases, for example, Muchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) in mice (cradick et al. P 55). In April last year, Chinese medical researchers reported that they had used the technology to cure a blood disorder in a human being by modifying the embryo. The technology can also be used to create what is referred to as designer babies. It can also be used to create animal organs that can be transplanted easily (Wang, et al. P 83). This operation is known as xenotransplants.
Ethical Concerns
Ethical concerns raised by the use of this technology are that, researchers must look at the risks and benefits of testing the technology on human beings (Marraffini, et al. 26). It is because benefits must be greater than the risks that will be incurred in the process. This is because if the technology fails to work, it can lead to massive mutations which can be hard to reverse once they have spread. The other issue is the ecological equilibrium the experiment is being tested on living human beings, in case there is a mutation of the effects, it can quickly affect the coming generations, and its effects may not be reversed (Naito, et al. P 50).
The Future of CRISPR Technology
When we look at forty years to come, the CRISPR technology will make life better for the generation because of its medical benefits (Sun, et al. P 630). Problems like shortage of organ transplants in many hospitals would not be seen in many of the hospitals and the creation of what is called golden babies (Rousseau, et al. P 86). Also, it would be a great achievement in the medical fraternity.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the above technology has to be used in a while considering its consequences to the living animals this is because of the ethical and legal issues involved in the utilization of the said technology. The vaccine should be kept in the right place because any leaks could cause a lot of irreparable damage to the humankind.
Work cited
Ali, Zahir, et al. "Efficient virus-mediated genome editing in plants using the CRISPR/Cas9 system." Molecular Plant 8.8 (2015): 1288-1291.
Barrangou, Rodolphe, et al. "CRISPR provides acquired resistance against viruses in prokaryotes." Science 315.5819 (2007): 1709-1712.
Brouns, Stan JJ, et al. "Small CRISPR RNAs guide antiviral defense in prokaryotes." Science 321.5891 (2008): 960-964.
Cong, Le, et al. "Multiplex genome engineering using CRISPR/Cas systems." Science 339.6121 (2013): 819-823.
Cradick, Thomas J., et al. "CRISPR/Cas9 systems targeting β-globin and CCR5 genes have substantial off-target activity." Nucleic acids research (2013): gkt714.
Marraffini, Luciano A., and Erik J. Sontheimer. "CRISPR interference limits horizontal gene transfer in staphylococci by targeting DNA." science 322.5909 (2008): 1843-1845.
Naito, Yuki, et al. "CRISPRdirect: software for designing CRISPR/Cas guide RNA with reduced off-target sites." Bioinformatics (2014): btu743.
Rousseau, Christine, et al. "CRISPI: a CRISPR interactive database." Bioinformatics 25.24 (2009): 3317-3318.
Sun, Yongwei, et al. "Engineering herbicide-resistant rice plants through CRISPR/Cas9-mediated homologous recombination of acetolactate synthase." Molecular Plant 9.4 (2016): 628-631.
Wang, Tim, et al. "Genetic screens in human cells using the CRISPR-Cas9 system." Science 343.6166 (2014): 80-84.
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