What is Gene Editing Gene editing, also known as genome editing or genome engineering, is a new kind of genetic engineering technology that can precisely modify specific target genes in the genome of an organism. Gene-editing technology allows humans to "edit" a target gene at a specific point, modifying a specific piece of DNA. Gene editing is dependent on the engineered nuclease, also known as "molecular scissors", at a specific location in the genome to produce site specific double-stranded break (DSB), induction of organisms through the homologous end connection (NHEJ) or homologous recombination (HR) to repair the DSB, error-prone because the repair process, leading to targeted mutation.
Gene editing, also known as genome edting or genome engineering, is a new kind of genetic engineering technology or process that can precisely modify specific target genes in the genome of an organism. In the early days of genetic engineering, only exogenous or endogenous genetic material could be randomly inserted into the host genome. Gene editing is dependent on the engineered nuclease, also known as "molecular scissors", at a specific location in the genome to produce site specific double-stranded break (DSB), induction of organisms through the homologous end connection (NHEJ) or homologous recombination (HR) to repair the DSB, error-prone because the repair process, leading to targeted mutation.This targeted mutation is gene editing. Gene editing has shown great potential in gene research, gene therapy and genetic improvement because it can efficiently perform targeted genome editing. Homologous recombination is one of the earliest techniques for editing or editing cellular genomes.Homologous recombination is the exchange of genetic information between two similar (homologous) strands of DNA.Once inside the cell, they can be recombined with the cell's DNA to replace the target part of the genome by producing and isolating DNA fragments with sequences similar to those of the part of the genome to be edited, injecting them into a monocyte, or absorbing them with special chemicals.The disadvantage of this method is low efficiency and high error rate.
Gene editing has begun to be applied to basic theoretical research and production applications that contribute to many areas of life sciences, from the study of gene function in plants and animals to gene therapy in humans.The following is an introduction to the application of gene editing in plants and animals. An important goal in the future must be to improve the safety and specificity of nucleases, improve the ability to detect off-target events, and master prevention methods.The zinc finger used in ZFNs is rarely completely specific, and some may cause toxic reactions.Modification of ZFN cutting domain can reduce toxicity [17]. In addition, the understanding of DNA recombination and DNA repair mechanism should be strengthened. CRISPR's simplicity and low cost have made it widely available for research and application.Because of their accuracy and efficiency, CRISPR and TALEN are expected to be options in mass production.
