A new era in molecular biology clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/cas9 technology: A brief understanding

Abstract

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) are repeated patterns observed in bacterial DNA based on the natural defence mechanism of bacteria against any viral infection and plasmids. Targeted gene editing with the aid transcription activator-like effector nucleases and zinc-finger nucleases restricts its wide spared application due to convoluted protein structure designing. A CRISPR locus is organised of interspersed spacer and repeat sequences. Spacers are unique sequences originating from viral or plasmid DNA. CRISPR works in three phases (1) acquisition, (2) biogenesis and (3) targeting. Acquisition or adaptation involves the selection of foreign invading DNA (Protospacer). Biogenesis or expression and maturation integrate Protospacer into CRISPR loci transcribed and matured into crRNAs. During the targeting phase, crRNA forms a complex with cas9. There are three main classes of the CRISPR/cas9 system, i.e., type I, type II and type III, that have been discovered till date. All the data have been amalgamated through the following search engines such as PUBMED, Google Scholar and Medweb using keywords such as CRISPR/cas9 gene editing. The meta-analysis for the current study has been carried out by doing a systemic review starting from 2010 to 2017. CRISPR is currently the most adaptable and precise method employed for gene manipulation. Especially for the screening of mutant which increases in potency of T-cell cancer therapy, treatment for monogenic diseases, gene editing in embryos, zoonotic diseases such as malaria, eradication of HIV-1 genomes from T-cells can be possible. It can be used to understand how different genes influence disorders in the variety of animal systems. The natural bacterial protection mechanism is employed for gene editing due to expeditious scientific evolution and can be further availed for the treatment of various monogenic disorders. Embryo manipulation can be a divergent advancement in future, but due to social and ethical issues, this technique is to a halt.