CRISPR - What is Cas9 ?

CRISPR is a class of DNA sequences detected in the genomes of prokaryotic organisms, such as bacteria and archaea. These sequences are obtained from DNA fragments of bacteriophages that had earlier infected the prokaryote. They are used to identify and suppress DNA from similar bacteriophages through subsequent.

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Cas9

Researchers studied a simpler CRISPR system from Streptococcus pyogenes that relies on the protein Cas9. The Cas9 endonuclease is a four-component system that includes two small crRNA molecules and trans-activating CRISPR RNA (tracrRNA). Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier re-engineered the Cas9 endonuclease into a more manageable two-component system by fusing the two RNA molecules into a "single-guide RNA" that, when combined with Cas9, could find and cut the DNA target specified by the guide RNA.

This contribution was so significant that it was recognized by the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2020. By manipulating the nucleotide sequence of the guide RNA, the artificial Cas9 system could be programmed to target any DNA sequence for cleavage. Another group of collaborators comprising Virginijus Šikšnys together with Gasiūnas, Barrangou and Horvath showed that Cas9 from the S. thermophilus CRISPR system can also be reprogrammed to target a site of their choosing by changing the sequence of its crRNA. These advances fueled efforts to edit genomes with the modified CRISPR-Cas9 system.

Groups led by Feng Zhang and George Church simultaneously published descriptions of genome editing in human cell cultures using CRISPR-Cas9 for the first time. It has since been used in a wide range of organisms, including baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), the opportunistic pathogen Candida albicans, zebrafish (Danio rerio), fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster), ants (Harpegnathos saltator[50] and Ooceraea biroi), mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti), nematodes (Caenorhabditis elegans), plants, mice, monkeys and human embryos.

CRISPR has been modified to make programmable transcription factors that allow scientists to target and activate or silence specific genes.