BioCentury
ARTICLE | Cover Story

CRISPR genome editing

January 31, 2013 8:00 AM UTC

Five separate research teams have developed a Cas9 endonuclease-based method for sequence-specific genome modification that is guided by DNA-RNA base pairing, and at least two companies are commercializing the findings.1-6 Although the approach is technically more straightforward than existing methods, such as zinc finger nucleases and transcription activator-like effector nucleases, its specificity has yet to be fully determined.

At least four companies are using zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) and transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) to engineer point mutations, deletions and insertions into the genomes of organisms ranging from plants to humans. These technologies have enabled functional genetic studies in model systems including rats, pigs and zebrafish in which it was previously difficult to make targeted knockouts...