02.11.2017

Tracing genetic disease with artificial CRISPR gene defects

Fanconi anemia is a rare genetic disease that occurs statistically in one out of every 130,000 people. Researchers from the Austrian Academy of Sciences have discovered that certain gene defects artificially produced by CRISPR/Cas9 counteract the effects of this genetic disease in cell cultures and thereby identify a protein complex that is responsible for it. They now report this in "Nature Communications".

Zellen mit doppeltem Gendefekt (∆FANCC∆BLM) bei der Reparatur künstlich zugefügter DNA Schäden © Michelle Owusu/CeMM
Zellen mit doppeltem Gendefekt (∆FANCC∆BLM) bei der Reparatur künstlich zugefügter DNA Schäden © Michelle Owusu/CeMM