A team of scientists in Beijing has developed a new gene-editing tool that does not use CRISPR technology, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.
Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology published details of their modular gene-editing system – called CyDENT – in the journal Nature Biotechnology on 28 August.
The CyDENT system works in a slightly different way to CRISPR/Cas9, which is patented in the USA, according to the 9 September report.
CRISPR splits double-strand DNA to make edits to the base pairs that make up the strands, according to CRISPR Therapeutics. The DNA is cut and then repaired by a natural cell process.
According to the research paper, CyDENT can be used to perform strand-specific gene editing without any cuts.
Kevin Zhao, one of the study’s authors and co-founder of Suzhou-based Qi Biodesign, was quoted as saying CyDENT used modules to perform different parts of the editing process.
CyDENT was developed using a “protein-based approach” that relies on a protein signal to transport the editor inside, bypassing the need for a guide RNA and allowing access to hard-to-reach cell genomes, Zhao said.
However, the team said further research was needed to determine the best combinations of its modular elements to yield the best editing results.
For human therapeutics, Zhao said the most important considerations were safety and efficiency although the tool had shown great potential for exploring previously un-editable DNA.
He added that the team was exploring what they could achieve in plant chloroplasts, where the editing efficiency did not need to be as high, to start more in-depth research.
Zhao said the system could be used in the agribusiness sector, as many proteins encoded within the chloroplast – where photosynthesis takes place – were related to the efficiency of converting sunlight to energy, which meant engineering crops for better energy conversion could produce better yields.
