Researchers at Western University have developed a new
way to deliver the DNA-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 into microorganisms in the lab,
providing a way to efficiently launch a targeted attack on specific bacteria.
The study opens up the possibility of using CRISPR to alter the makeup of the
human microbiome in a way that could be personalized and specific from person
to person. It also presents a potential alternative to traditional antibiotics
to kill bacteria like Staphyloccous aureus (Staph A) or Escherichia coli (E.
coli).
CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced
Short Palindromic Repeats and can be programmed to target specific stretches of
genetic code and to edit DNA at precise locations. Researchers use CRISPR to
permanently modify genes in living cells and organisms.
In this way, CRISPR can be programmed to kill
bacteria, but until now there wasn't a way to efficiently and specifically
target certain bacterial strains.
The delivery system developed at Western uses
bacteria's natural ability to replicate -- called bacterial conjugation -- to
deliver CRISPR to specific bacteria, in order to alter its DNA and kill it.
See:
Thomas A. Hamilton, Gregory M. Pellegrino, Jasmine A.
Therrien, Dalton T. Ham, Peter C. Bartlett, Bogumil J. Karas, Gregory B. Gloor,
David R. Edgell. Efficient inter-species conjugative transfer of a CRISPR
nuclease for targeted bacterial killing. Nature Communications, 2019; 10 (1)
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-12448-3
Posted by Dr. Tim Sandle, Pharmaceutical Microbiology
No comments:
Post a comment
Pharmaceutical Microbiology Resources