Nature: seven facts of CRISPR

On December 1-3, 2015, a large international conference will be held in Washington, D.C., and the ethics of human genome editing will once again become a theme Before the summit, which will be jointly organized by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medical Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society of England, nature collected seven facts about human gene editing On December 1-3, 2015, a large international conference will be held in Washington, D.C., and the ethics of human genome editing will once again become a theme Before the summit, which will be jointly organized by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medical Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society of England, nature collected seven facts about human gene editing 1、 At present, only one genome editor of human germ cells has been published In April, Huang Jun, Sun Yat sen University, Guangzhou, China, edited the human embryo genome with crispr-cas9 technology A few weeks before the paper was published, there had been some rumors about the editing of human egg, sperm or embryonic cell genome Although Huang Jun is waiting to use the undeveloped embryo, the edited germ cells can succeed in theory 2、 There are great differences in the laws of human germ cells all over the world Germany strictly restricts human embryo experiments, which is an illegal act China, Japan, Ireland and India have only non mandatory rules for human embryo genome editing Many scientists hope to establish international norms, and some hope that this week's summit will set such norms 3、 Gene editing does not need the best DNA editing method of professionals CRISPR - cas9 technology is also very economical and easy Even some biology enthusiasts can conduct such research in their own homes or public laboratories 4、 Cas9 is not the only enzyme The key component of crispr-cas9 system is DNA shearase cas9 But in September, biologists Zhang Feng of Massachusetts Institute of technology and Harvard University discovered a new DNA cutting enzyme, cpf1, which makes CRISPR system easier Zhang Feng is a pioneer in editing mammalian cell genome with crispr-cas9 5、 Pigs have become the first-line objects of genome editing Dogs, sheep and monkeys have become the objects of genome editing But pigs have recently become the core goal of genome editing Chinese scholars recently announced that they would edit miniature pet pigs with a weight of only 1 / 6 that of ordinary pigs Chinese and Korean scholars jointly edited bodybuilding muscle pigs American scholars edited 62 genes at the same time to produce pigs that can be used for human transplant officials 6、 Gates, Google and DuPont have all focused on gene editing technology in August 2015 Many major consortiums, including the gates Melinda foundation and Google, have invested 120 million yuan in gene editing company editas medicine The investment in large-scale agriculture has also been followed up DuPont and reindeer Bioscience, the gene editing technology, will invest in gene editing of crops 7、 CRISPR – cas9 system patent dispute Zhang Feng obtained a US patent in April 2014 But a few months before he filed for the patent in 2012, Jennifer doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier, molecular biologists at the University of California, Berkeley, have applied for the patent The University of California, Berkeley, has asked the U.S patent and Trademark Office to determine who should own the CRISPR - cas9 patent Similar disputes have taken place in Europe Since the priority date of the patents applied by doudna and Charpentier is earlier than that of the patents approved by Zhang Feng, assuming that there are many overlaps between the two patents, doudna and Charpentier may go to the U.S patent and Trademark Office to appeal and challenge the rationality of Zhang Feng's patents through the so-called intervention procedures If doudna and Charpentier win, Zhang Feng's approved patents will be invalid, although this does not guarantee that their own patents can be approved; on the other hand, if Zhang Feng wins, he can keep the patents, while doudna and Charpentier lose both hands At present, all three scientists have their own companies (BIOON Com)