What technology is "genome editing" in God's domain that can freely design genes and change the characteristics of living things?

Genetic information which is a design drawing of living things can be freely designed "Genome editingTechnology has emerged. With genome editing, genetic manipulation becomes possible at an uneven speed from the conventional genetic recombination technology, it is expected that ideal food and medical technology will emerge, and at the same time about the dangers of the technology that reached the domain of God Voices of concern are also rising.

The age of the red pen | The Economist
http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21661799-it-now-easy-edit-genomes-plants-animals-and-humans-age-red-pen

◆ What is gene, DNA, genome?
In order to understand what kind of technology is "genome editing", it is necessary to first understand the meaning of terms such as genome, gene and DNA.

It consists of four kinds of bases: adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine, sugar, phosphoric acid, etc.Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)"Contains information that determines genetic characteristics of living things"gene"contained. In other words, DNA and genes are not exactly the same because we call a specific site containing genetic information in DNA that determines the characteristics of a certain organism as a gene.

Whereas DNA and genes are substances, it is generic to refer to all the genetic information contained in cells, such as genes and chromosomesgenome"is. What is a genome?GenE) and chromosome (chromosOme) And it is a term that refers not to a specific substance but to gene information itself. Attempts to decipher the function of living organisms by decoding this genome have been done since long ago.

◆ Purpose of genetic manipulation
The ultimate goal of decoding genetic information is to produce different traits by manipulating genetic information. To put it briefly, by manipulating genetic information, we are trying to create "beneficial" and "convenient" organisms for humans. For example, it is a good example to produce animals and plants ideal for human foods, such as crops that are easy to grow even in harsh environments and have high nutritional value, and livestock that is very meaty to feeds given. In addition, it is natural that it is natural to create a "human body" that is useful for making an ideal body to overcome difficult diseases.


◆ Genetic recombination and genome editing
In recent years, research on "genome editing" that attempts to achieve the "ultimate goal" mentioned above is progressing rapidly by cutting and pasting genes pinpoint.

Genomic editing is similar to "gene recombination" technology in replacing specific genes, but the crucial difference is in its accuracy. Genetic recombination technology can not target recombinant genes to pinpoint, whereas in genome editing genetic manipulation is possible with thousands of times higher precision than gene recombination. In other words, because it is possible to manipulate genes with much higher precision in genome editing than genetic recombination technology which required to repeat a huge number of experiments on a so-called "accident" or "luck", research speed That is why it has been improved significantly.

◆ Technology of genome editing
In genome editing, in order to change the characteristics of living organisms, cut a specific gene and incorporate another gene. This kind of pinpoint genetic manipulation enabled is a technique called "CRISPR / Cas 9" which was put to practical use in 2012.

If you cut a DNA, the gene at the cut point will be destroyed. Where repaired mechanism works on the cleaved DNA, adding DNA having a gene sequence similar to the vicinity of the cleavage site will cause a phenomenon called "homologous recombination" in which the DNA is incorporated. In this way, it is genomic editing that cuts the DNA and stops gene function or incorporates arbitrary genes.


CRISPR / Cas 9 is a technique of efficiently finding a specific gene to stop function with a substance called guide RNA and cutting DNA with a substance called Cat 9 nuclease, to remove or introduce plural different genes at the same time You can also do genome editing tools that had been knownZFNBecause it is much easier to handle than CRISPR / Cas9, the research of genome editing is going to progress at a stretch.

◆ Results of genome editing
Experiments to improve agricultural crops by editing genomes have been conducted to produce long-lasting long-lasting tomatoes and algae with 50% more oil content. In addition, by breaking the gene called myostatin, which has the function of suppressing muscle growth, we succeeded in the development of beef cattle and other animals that have doubled muscle mass and improved meat.

Genome editing is done not only for food development but also for medical purposes.Successfully repair dystrophin, the causative gene of muscular dystrophyThe results of medical research have also been raised, including the dramatic increase in immunity of AIDS patients by removing genes related to lymphocyte protrusions that AIDS virus is easy to bind.

◆ Issues of genome editing
Many animal experiments have already been done on genome editing, and even monkeys have succeeded. Naturally, it is thought that there is a high possibility that the technique succeeded in monkey could be applied to human beings.

Then it is no wonder that researchers think that "the next to monkeys is human" comes out, but from the viewpoint of bioethics, the opposite voice against human genetic manipulation is globally cited. Meanwhile,The research team in China announces a paper that genomic editing using human fertilized eggs in April 2015Then the ripple spread.


The experiment used in the fertilized egg which was born in the process of artificial insemination, there is an abnormality containing two chromosomes of sperm and there is the fact that it was "a fertilized egg without the possibility of growing" However, we have to raise the question of "Is it possible to manipulate human genes?" Not only for scientists but also for general people.

Regarding the application of genome editing to the human body, for example, from the view that it should be accepted if it is not conveyed to the next generation, such as curing the disease by repairing genetic abnormalities in patients with intractable diseases, There is also a position, and opinions are divided. Until a while ago, the advent of technology that was a story of the SF world, "rewriting the design drawing of living beings", together with the benefits that the technology brings, seems to be pointing to various problems including the way of life is.