After “genetic scissors”, an “RNA bridge” could revolutionize genome editing

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A new tool, called “RNA bridge”, makes it possible to select a piece of genetic code to copy it at a very precise location on another DNA molecule, without leaving the slightest “scar” from the operation.
Visual Science

DECRYPTION – Researchers have identified a mechanism in the genome of bacteria that appears to be much more effective than the CRISPR-Cas9 technique for modifying genetic material.

Remember these names: Patrick Hsu and Hiroshi Nishimasu. These two biologists, respectively from the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Tokyo, could very soon find themselves at the top of the list of contenders for the Nobel Prize in medicine. If their recent work published in Nature still need to be replicated and deepened, they suggest a real revolution in genome editing, comparable to that initiated in 2012 thanks to the CRISPR-Cas9 genetic scissors. Nothing less.

The two researchers have in fact identified in the genome of bacteria a new tool, which they have called “RNA bridge”, which allows in the same effort to very precisely select a piece of genetic code to copy it at a very precise location. ‘another DNA molecule, without leaving the slightest « scar » of the operation. « This RNA bridge system is a fundamentally new mechanism for biological programming »said Patrick…

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After ‘genetic scissors’, an ‘RNA bridge’ could revolutionise genome editing