Explained: 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Context: CRISPR/Cas9 technology has introduced new opportunities in cancer therapies, curing inherited diseases and also in plant inbreeding.

• Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020 for discovering one of gene technology’s sharpest tools: the CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors.
• Using components of the CRISPR system, researchers can add, remove, or even alter specific DNA sequences.

 Why the name CRISPR/Cas?

• CRISPR is an abbreviation for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats.
• These sequences are a part of the bacteria’s immune system.
• Bacteria that have survived a virus infection add a piece of the genetic code of the virus into its genome as a memory of the infection.
• In addition to these CRISPR sequences, researchers discovered special genes called CRISPR-associated, abbreviated as Cas.

What was the controversy on CRISPR-Cas9 technology?

• In 2018, a geneticist from China, claimed that he altered the genes of twin girls born this month to create the first gene-edited babies.
• He used the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology to edit the genes of twin girls.

https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/explained-2020-nobel-prize-in-chemistry/article32793728.ece?homepage=true