A team of researchers has discovered a new biological editing system that may be even more precise than CRISPR gene editing. It is based on a protein called Fanzor, and this new discovery is the first programmable RNA guidance system discovered in eukaryotes. For the new RNA editing system, The study was published in the journal on June 28 Nature.
[Related: CRISPR breaks ground as a one-shot treatment for a rare disease.]
Eukaryotes include fungi, plants and animals whose cells have nuclei. CRISPR was first discovered in an organism called prokaryotes, are unicellular and do not have a nucleus. The discovery of such an editing system that works in eukaryotes could expand the scope and possibly the precision of biological editing.
of the team shows you how Fansol protein Along with using RNA as a guide to precisely target DNA, we also describe how Fanzor can be reprogrammed to edit the genome of human cells. RNA serves multiple functions in the body, including encoding, decoding, regulation, and expression of genes. Fanzor systems may also be easier to deliver to body tissues and cells as therapeutics than CRISPR systems.
This study also shows that RNA-induced DNA cleavage machinery is present in both prokaryotes lacking unicellular nuclei and eukaryotes with multicellular nuclei.
“CRISPR-based systems are widely used and powerful because they can be easily reprogrammed to target different sites in the genome,” says Feng, co-author and biochemist at MIT. Mr Zhang said. said in a statement. “This new system is another way to make precise changes to human cells and complements the genome editing tools we already have.”
One of the main goals of Zhang Laboratory develops genetic medicines that can modulate human cells by pinpointing specific genes and processes. They look beyond CRISPR to see if other RNA-programmable systems exist in nature.
team is, Discoveries of 2021 A type of RNA programmable system prokaryotes called omega. That study highlights some similarities between the prokaryotic OMEGA system and the eukaryotic Fanzor proteins, suggesting that the Fanzor enzymes may also utilize the RNA guidance machinery to target and cleave DNA. suggested.
in the new researchthe research team isolated phansols from fungi, algae, amoeba species, and a common bivalve mollusk called snails. Northern Quohog. Biochemical characterization of Fanzor proteins showed that Fanzor proteins are DNA-cleaving endonuclease enzymes that use nearby noncoding RNAs known as ωRNAs. These omegaRNAs target specific sites in the genome, according to the authors, and this is the first time that this mechanism has been discovered in eukaryotes such as clams.
[Related: What is a pangenome? Scientists just released their first draft.]
“These omega systems are the more progenitors of CRISPR and one of the most abundant proteins on Earth, so it makes sense that they could move back and forth between prokaryotes and eukaryotes. It’s a good fit,” said co-author and postdoctoral fellow Dr. Zhang.Laboratory Makoto Saito said in a statement.
To explore the potential of Fanzor as a future genome-editing tool, the research team demonstrated that Fanzor can generate insertions and deletions at targeted genomic sites within human cells, similar to cut-and-paste tools in documents. showed. They found that the Fanzor system was initially less efficient at cutting DNA than the CRISPR system, but introducing a combination of mutations into the protein greatly increased its activity.
The Fanzor system, like current CRISPR-based systems, could be reprogrammed to target specific genome-editing techniques for future research and therapeutics, the researchers say. There are many other such systems in nature waiting to be discovered.
“Nature is amazing. It’s so diverse,” Chan said. “Perhaps there are many more RNA-programmable systems.
