CRISPR: The science behind gene-edited 'designer babies'

Summary

In 2018, Chinese scientist Jiankui He claimed to have created the first gene-edited babies using CRISPR-Cas9 technology, sparking global debate. The script discusses the difference between somatic and germline editing, explaining how CRISPR works as a natural bacterial immune system repurposed for gene editing. It also touches on ethical concerns and the technology's potential applications beyond 'designer babies,' such as in agriculture and medicine, emphasizing the importance of ongoing conversations about the ethical use of CRISPR.

Takeaways

• 🧬 Genetics has the potential to perfect physical and mental characteristics of unborn children, a concept often seen in science fiction.
• 🌟 In 2018, Chinese scientist Jiankui He claimed to have created the first gene-edited babies, Lulu and Nana, using CRISPR-Cas9.
• 🔍 The goal of the gene editing was to provide resistance to HIV by editing out a part of the DNA passed from the HIV-positive father.
• 🤔 The scientific community reacted with surprise and skepticism, raising concerns about the safety and ethics of germline gene editing.
• ⚠️ Germline editing is controversial because it involves heritable changes that can be passed down through generations.
• 🧬 CRISPR-Cas9 is a naturally occurring bacterial immune system that has been harnessed for gene editing purposes.
• ✂️ CRISPR functions by using the Cas9 protein to cut DNA and guide RNA to identify the specific DNA sequence that needs editing.
• 🌱 CRISPR is used in various applications beyond creating 'designer babies', including improving crop health and researching cancer treatments.
• 🚫 The scientist who created the CRISPR babies has been widely condemned, losing his job and prompting China to take preventive measures against such practices.
• 💡 The incident sparked an important ethical debate on the limits of gene editing and its implications for society.

Q & A

What is the significance of gene editing in terms of physical and mental characteristics of unborn children?

Gene editing holds the potential to alter and potentially perfect the physical and mental characteristics of unborn children, although this is a highly controversial and complex field that raises ethical and safety concerns.

What did Chinese scientist He Jiankui claim to have achieved in late 2018?

He Jiankui claimed to have created the first-ever gene-edited babies, twin girls named Lulu and Nana, using the CRISPR-Cas9 tool to edit out a part of their DNA to make them resistant to HIV.

What was the scientific community's reaction to He Jiankui's announcement?

The announcement was met with surprise and skepticism, with many in the scientific community expressing concerns about the safety, ethics, and the potential for germline editing.

What is the difference between somatic editing and germline editing as mentioned in the script?

Somatic editing involves changes to an organism that are not passed on to offspring, whereas germline editing alters sperm or egg cells, leading to heritable mutations that can be passed down for many generations.

What are the components of the CRISPR system?

The CRISPR system consists of the Cas9 protein, which acts as the 'scissors' to cut DNA, and guide RNA, which identifies the specific DNA sequence that needs to be edited.

How is CRISPR-Cas9 used in the context of gene editing?

Scientists use CRISPR-Cas9 by identifying a DNA sequence to edit, creating a specific guide RNA for that sequence, and then introducing the Cas9 protein with the guide RNA into cells to cut and modify the DNA as needed.

What is the natural role of the CRISPR-Cas9 system?

In nature, the CRISPR-Cas9 system serves as a bacterial immune system, providing bacteria with a defense mechanism against invading viruses.

What are some non-controversial applications of CRISPR technology mentioned in the script?

CRISPR is used in various applications such as creating healthier and stronger crops, and in medical research to find drugs that may work best to treat specific cancers.

What is the current stance of the scientific community on creating 'designer babies'?

The scientific community generally agrees that creating 'designer babies' with hand-picked traits is not feasible in the near future due to the complexity of genetic traits and the ethical considerations involved.

What has been the consequence for He Jiankui following his controversial gene-editing experiment?

He Jiankui has been largely condemned for his use of germline editing, lost his job, and China has taken steps to prevent such occurrences in the future.

What ethical debate has been sparked by He Jiankui's gene-editing experiment?

The experiment has initiated a significant ethical debate on the limits of gene editing, the potential for 'designer babies,' and the importance of considering the long-term implications of such technology on society.

Outlines

00:00

🧬 Gene Editing Controversy: CRISPR and the Birth of Designer Babies?

The paragraph discusses the potential and controversy surrounding gene editing, particularly focusing on the case of Chinese scientist He Jiankui's claim to have created the first gene-edited babies using CRISPR-Cas9 technology. He allegedly edited the DNA of twin girls, Lulu and Nana, to make them resistant to HIV, sparking global debate. The scientific community expressed skepticism and concern over the safety and ethics of germline editing, which involves altering inheritable genetic material. The paragraph also explains the difference between somatic and germline editing, with the latter being more contentious due to its heritability across generations. CRISPR-Cas9 is described as a naturally occurring bacterial immune system that has been repurposed for gene editing, allowing for precise and efficient modifications to DNA.

05:01

🌱 Ethical Debates and Future Implications of CRISPR Technology

This paragraph delves into the broader implications and ethical considerations of CRISPR technology beyond the creation of 'designer babies.' It acknowledges the condemnation and job loss faced by He Jiankui for his controversial germline editing. The paragraph emphasizes the importance of the ongoing ethical debate, suggesting that while the incident in China was irresponsible, it has prompted a necessary societal conversation. The potential applications of CRISPR are highlighted, including improving crops and personalized cancer treatments, indicating that the technology has vast potential beyond genetic enhancement of humans. The paragraph concludes by suggesting that while the idea of designer babies is currently unrealistic, the discussion on the limits of scientific innovation and ethics is crucial as we advance in the field of gene editing.

Keywords

💡Gene Editing

Gene editing refers to the process of altering the DNA of an organism to change its characteristics. In the video, it is explained through the use of CRISPR technology, which allows precise modifications to DNA, such as in the case of the twin babies in China who were edited to be resistant to HIV. Gene editing is central to the video's theme, raising ethical and scientific debates about its potential uses and risks.

💡CRISPR-Cas9

CRISPR-Cas9 is a revolutionary gene-editing tool that allows scientists to modify DNA sequences with high precision. It consists of two main components: the Cas9 protein, which cuts the DNA, and a guide RNA, which directs Cas9 to the specific DNA sequence to be edited. In the video, CRISPR-Cas9 was used to create the first gene-edited babies, highlighting both its potential and the controversy surrounding its application, particularly in germline editing.

💡Germline Editing

Germline editing refers to genetic modifications made to sperm, eggs, or embryos, which are then passed on to future generations. This is a more ethically charged form of gene editing because it can have long-lasting effects on human populations. The video discusses the controversy of germline editing through the case of the Chinese scientist who edited embryos, which raised concerns about unintended consequences and ethical implications.

💡Somatic Editing

Somatic editing is the modification of genes in an individual organism's body cells, meaning the changes affect only that individual and are not passed on to future generations. In the video, this form of editing is presented as less controversial compared to germline editing, as it does not raise the same ethical concerns about heritable changes. Somatic editing is used in various medical treatments, including cancer research.

💡Guide RNA

Guide RNA is a crucial part of the CRISPR-Cas9 system, functioning as the 'brains' by directing the Cas9 protein to the specific DNA sequence that needs to be edited. In the video, the guide RNA is described as being designed by scientists to recognize the target DNA for precise editing, which was used in the controversial gene-editing of embryos in China. This component is key to the accuracy and success of CRISPR.

💡Ethical Debate

The ethical debate surrounding gene editing is a major theme of the video. It involves discussions on the morality, safety, and long-term consequences of using technologies like CRISPR to edit human genes, especially in embryos. The video highlights the global uproar following the announcement of gene-edited babies, emphasizing concerns about 'designer babies,' heritable mutations, and the unknown risks of such interventions.

💡Designer Babies

Designer babies refer to the concept of genetically modifying embryos to create children with selected traits, such as physical appearance, intelligence, or resistance to diseases. The video discusses how CRISPR raises the possibility of designer babies, although it also explains that creating such complex traits is far beyond current scientific capabilities. This idea taps into fears about the misuse of genetic technologies for cosmetic or superficial purposes.

💡HIV Resistance

HIV resistance in the context of the video refers to the goal of the gene-editing experiment conducted by the Chinese scientist. He claimed to have edited the DNA of two twin girls to remove a section linked to their father’s HIV, theoretically making them resistant to the virus. This specific example demonstrates both the potential medical benefits and the ethical controversy of using gene editing to alter human embryos.

💡DNA Editing

DNA editing, also known as gene editing, is the process of altering the genetic material within an organism's cells. The video explains this through CRISPR-Cas9, which allows scientists to 'cut and paste' sections of DNA, like editing a document. This analogy helps the viewer understand the process, which was used to edit embryos in China to potentially make them resistant to HIV, but with significant ethical concerns.

💡Heritable Mutation

A heritable mutation is a genetic change that can be passed down to future generations. In the video, this concept is key to the controversy over germline editing, where changes made to embryos, sperm, or eggs can be inherited by the offspring. The potential for unintended consequences in future generations is a major reason why germline editing is viewed as dangerous and unethical by many in the scientific community.

Highlights

Genetics has the potential to perfect physical and mental characteristics of unborn children.

Chinese scientist Jiankui He claimed to have created the first gene-edited babies using CRISPR-Cas9.

The gene-edited twin girls, Lulu and Nana, were engineered to resist HIV.

The scientific community was surprised and skeptical about the gene-edited babies announcement.

Germline editing is controversial due to its ethical implications and potential dangers.

Germline editing differs from somatic editing as it can be passed down to future generations.

CRISPR-Cas9 is a naturally occurring DNA editing system used as a bacterial immune response.

CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats.

Cas9 protein acts as molecular scissors, cutting DNA at specific sequences.

Guide RNA directs the Cas9 protein to the specific DNA sequence that needs to be edited.

CRISPR can be used to delete, modify, or insert new DNA sequences.

CRISPR is being used beyond creating designer babies, including in agriculture and medical research.

CRISPR is used to understand gene functions and their roles in diseases like cancer.

The creation of CRISPR babies has been widely condemned, and steps have been taken to prevent such occurrences.

The CRISPR babies incident has sparked an ethical debate on the use of gene-editing technology.

While designer babies are not imminent, the conversation on ethics in gene editing is crucial.

Scientists continue to explore the potential of CRISPR to improve human life ethically.

Transcripts

genetics what can it mean the ability to

perfect the physical and mental

characteristics of every unborn child

it's the stuff of science fiction the

wild imaginings of hollywood films or is

it

in late 2018 chinese scientist jean cue

her shocked the world claiming to have

created the first ever gene edited

babies twin girls named lulu and nana

using a tool called crispr cast 9. right

after we send her husband's burn into

her egg

we're also sending a little bit of

protein and instruction for a gym

surgery hus said he had edited out a

part of their dna passed on from their

hiv positive father

this was to ensure the babies were born

with a resistance to the virus the

announcement was met with surprise and

skepticism from the scientific community

anything like this you're gonna get

caught because there's a

there's just so much material that you

don't know that's going on

that it it's dangerous and it's

unethical so that's why today

there's such a

tumultuous response against germline

gene editing it's that term germline

editing that makes crispr controversial

there's a distinct difference between

editing embryos which is what happened

in china and editing genes in a lab

neville sanjana a scientist at the new

york genome center and nyu works with

crispr technologies and he explains the

difference

somatic editing are things you do in one

organism that is only in that organism

whether it be a plant or an animal

whatever

but germline editing is is much more

serious stuff because that when you edit

say the sperm or the egg cells that's

something that's now a heritable

mutation that's that's passed down to

every cell in the next generation and

potentially for many generations after

it so what exactly is christopher cast9

at its heart um crispr

and

cas9 are our dna editors their dna

modifying systems crispr wasn't created

by humans it occurs naturally one i

think incredible thing that to know

about crispr systems and cast nine is

that they weren't just created in a lab

they're actually naturally existing

proteins

and the natural role of

cas9 and crispr systems in nature is a

bacterial immune system it was actually

less than a decade ago scientists

realized the immense applications of

crispr for gene editing crispr stands

for clustered regularly interspaced

short palindromic repeats

it has two components that make it what

it is the cas9 protein which cuts the

dna essentially acting as the scissors

and a guide rna which is the brains of

the operation recognizing what dna needs

to be edited

to use the crispr tool scientists first

identify the sequence of dna that they

want to edit then create a specific

guide rna to recognize that piece of dna

the rna is placed inside the cutting

tool the cas9 protein this is then

introduced into the cells it locates the

target sequence that the rna has been

designed to recognize and then cuts the

dna

once the cut is made scientists can

delete modify or insert entirely new dna

sequences okay so that still seems a bit

complex and you're probably thinking i

really don't understand what that means

think of it like editing a document

you find the errors or the words you

don't want you highlight them and remove

or replace those words that's

essentially what crispr does in dna and

how it was used to edit the embryos in

china crispr it's so useful i mean

scientists have been trying to introduce

you know changes into the dna in order

to understand the function of genes in

order to understand the function of the

bits of dna in between the genes

for years and

you know we've been there's been

techniques to do that but this allows

really

accurate changes to be done very quickly

crispr is being used in many different

ways that don't involve making designer

babies it's used in everything from

creating healthier and stronger crops

like wheat to finding drugs that may

work best to treat a specific cancer so

we have a quite a new technology at the

sanger institute

where we take

tissue from people with cancer so we

take a bit of the cancer tissue and

we're actually able to grow it

in culture and then what we do is we can

treat these these cells from the patient

with crispr cas9 and we can basically

work out

what um which g which genes are

involved with the cancer of that

particular patient so while crispr has

opened up a whole new realm of

possibility when it comes to gene

editing experts agree that this doesn't

mean we will see designer babies with

hand-picked eye colors or resistance to

cancer anytime soon it's not going to be

that easy to make someone super strong

or give them superhuman eyesight

these are complex genetic traits and

we don't fully understand them the

scientists who created the crispr babies

has largely been condemned for his use

of germline editing he's lost his job

and chyna has taken steps to prevent

this from happening again

but there is no denying it has opened up

a conversation about crispr as a gene

editing tool i think what's really

interesting is this sort of ethical

debate that's now happening

and i think there's a really

i think while what happened in china was

irresponsible in the way it was done i

think on the other hand

you know it we are now having a

conversation and i think it's an

important conversation to have in a

society

where success is determined by science

so while science fiction has become

reality we aren't likely to see

hollywood's version of designer babies

in the foreseeable future

but an important debate on ethics and

how far is too far has now begun as

scientists continue to push the limits

of innovation using crispr to better

human life the world over

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