New Gene Editing Systems
A study conducted by a group of Spanish scientists shows how to develop new gene-editing systems using molecules that no longer exist in nature.
Scientists are resurrecting proteins that existed billions of years ago in order to fight diseases in human cells.
A group of Spanish scientists have made a groundbreaking discovery in the field of gene editing, demonstrating how to create new gene-editing systems using molecules that no longer exist in nature.
The researchers used a technique called "in vitro evolution" to create the new gene-editing systems, which involves repeatedly exposing the molecules to selective pressures in a laboratory setting. This process allows the scientists to replicate the natural evolution process and create molecules that are optimized for specific tasks.
Spanish scientists have developed new gene-editing systems using proteins from extinct organisms. The team used a technique called ancestral sequence reconstruction to reconstruct the genomes of extinct organisms and create the new gene-editing systems. The technique involves using powerful computers to compare the complete genomes of living organisms and evaluate what the genomes of their common ancestors would look like. The researchers have so far managed
to recover Cas proteins from extinct microbes dating back 2.6 billion years. They have also recovered extinct proteins from microorganisms that lived between 37 million and 1 billion years ago. These ancient proteins were then injected into human cells and were found to be capable of editing the DNA of modern human cells. The study has been published in the journal Nature Microbiology.