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Sickle cell anemia, cystic fibrosis, and metabolic diseases will be corrected in human DNA with an AI method from the University of Zurich.
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Researchers ofUniversity of Zurich have developed a tool that, with the help of Artificial Intelligence, is able to repair genetic defects in a more targeted way than was previously possible.
This genome editing method represents a further development of the classic gene scissors technique.
By further improving the CRISPR/Cas9 technology, a team of scholars from the university located on the bank of the Limmat has in fact improved a procedure known as classical genetic scissors.
These genome editing methods are used in the laboratory to specifically edit the genetic material of lineages and model organisms and to study biological processes.
They can also be used to correct DNA mutations in genetic diseases.
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Prime Editing cuts and fixes only one of the two strands of deoxyribonucleic acid
According to the press release issued by theUniversity of Zurich, the new technology is called Prime Editing.
Unlike conventional genetic scissors, Prime Editing does not cut and repair both strands of the DNA molecule, but only one.
According to initial studies, Prime Editing leads to significantly fewer unwanted changes than traditional gene editing approaches.
Prior to slicing, the Prime Editing Guide RNA (pegRNA) precisely targets the target site in the genome and delivers the new genetic information, which is then incorporated into the DNA.
However, for every mutation there are “over 200 repair possibilities”, as he explains Gerald Schwank, professor of the Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology of UZH in the note to the media.
In theory, every single possibility should be tested experimentally to find the ideal pegRNA.
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Up to 200 possible repairs are testable, predicting the effectiveness of pegRNAs
For this reason, together with the colleague Michael Krauthammer from the Institute of Quantitative Biomedicine, Schwank has developed a method using Artificial Intelligence (AI) that can predict the efficiency of pegRNAs.
According to the University of Zurich, further preclinical studies are needed before the new prime editing tool can be used in humans.
However, the researchers are hopeful that, in the near future, mutations in deoxyribonucleic acid linked to common inherited diseases such as sickle cell disease, cystic fibrosis or metabolic diseases could also be repaired in human DNA.
Biochemist Carolin Anders from the University of Zurich explains the Cas9 enzyme (in German)
(Photo: Kilobaser)
