A DNA-editing technique calledCRISPRkeeps popping up in the news, in one medical breakthrough after another.
But in real life, that cut-and-paste job isnt always straightforward.
Like many biotech techniques, CRISPR was invented by bacteria and creatively repurposed by scientists.
The protein carries out a search-and-destroy mission guided by a snippet of DNA from the scrapbook.
What if we could repair a defective gene in somebody with a genetic disorder, for example?
But CRISPR is also a new technology, and its not magic.
Researchers have to work out the kinks in CRISPR-based approaches.
We cant do CRISPR routinely in humans until we know that its safe, for example.
So heres your reality check on what the new tech can actually do.
(TheDaily Mail reportedthat one scientist had speculated this might be possible.)
We currently dont know if its possible to CRISPR all the cells in a persons body.
This Twitter thread by Layla Katiraeeoutlines some of the other problems.
The DNA tracked in forensic databases is also tricky to work with, biochemically.
Bottom line:not happening anytime soon.
Biohacker Josiah Zaynerinjected his arm with a CRISPR recipeto block a gene called myostatin.
Altering the gene in an adults cells, however, wont necessarily do the same thing.
And those two … well, they dont exactly look like doggie hulks.
Bottom line:seems very unlikely.
Its conceptually similar to a bone marrow transplant, except each person is their own donor.
Bottom line:promising, but too early to tell if it will work.
In some cases, thats because of a natural mutation that occurred millennia ago.
And in recent decades, weve been able to tinker with living things DNA directly.
(Despite some bad press,GMOs arent any better or worse for you than their non-GMO counterparts.)
GMO crops have extra layers of government regulation beyond what conventionally bred plants have to deal with.
