Gene Editing
- Gene Editing is a type of genetic engineering in which DNA is inserted, deleted, modified or replaced in the genome of a living organism.
How does it work?
- Genome editing techniques make use of certain proteins that can cut DNA in a precise, targeted location.
- Among the recent genome editing technologies, CRISPR-based methods are important
- They are efficient, low cost; and ease of use, and can edit at multiple sites in the genome in a single procedure.
Applications of Genome Editing
- In scientific research – for example to investigate models of human disease.
- Genome editing has the potential to alter any DNA sequence, whether in a bacterium, plant, animal or human being.
- It is a powerful tool that can reshape the way society deals many issues of healthcare, food scarcity and the environment.
- Crops and livestock (e.g. increasing yield, introducing resistance to disease and pests, tolerance of different environmental conditions).
- Industrial biotechnology (e.g. developing ‘third generation’ biofuels and producing chemicals, materials and pharmaceuticals).
- Biomedicine (e.g. pharmaceutical development, xenotransplantation, gene and cell-based therapies, control of insect-borne diseases).
- Reproduction (e.g. preventing the inheritance of a disease trait).
- Engineering mosquitoes to control malaria and dengue.
- It can help fight against blood-related disorders such as haemophilia, sickle cell anaemia, and Beta Thalassemia.
- All such applications together can drive India’s economic growth over the next decade to new heights.