The first time the CRISPR gene editing process is back

The video is recorded with a probe of the size of only 1 atom.

Do you want to see for yourself one of the most miraculous things of 21st century science? Watch this video. It is the Cas9 protein process that cuts a piece of DNA with CRISPR . This is the first time this process has been turned into a real-time video.

Previously, scientists knew CRISPR worked, but never witnessed it with their own eyes. It turns out, genetic modification is like this:

Cas9 protein process cuts a piece of DNA recorded in real time.

This video was shown at the CRISPR 2017 conference in Montana, USA by structural biologist Osamu Nureki working at Tokyo University.

'I was sitting in front of the hall at the time, and then I heard breathless voices from everyone behind,' biologist Sam Sternberg recalled his amazed moment.

In recent years, CRISPR-Cas9 has created a wave of genetic research. It represents a cheap but effective gene editing tool, for extremely high accuracy.CRISPR-Cas9 exploits part of the bacterial immune system, which contains CRISPR self-repeating sequences in the genome.

When bacteria are infected with foreign DNA, it inserts this foreign DNA fragment into the CRISPR region in its genome. The bacteria will then code them into some 'point' RNA. This RNA tells the Cas protein if it is a foreign DNA that is invading bacteria. After finding them, Cas is like an automatic scissors that will dissolve foreign DNA to protect the safety of bacteria.

The gene cutting mechanism of CRISPR-Cas9 system has attracted the attention of many scientists. In 2012, they demonstrated the potential of this system, by deliberately coding CRISPR with a specific DNA. After that, the system can cut genes in the correct section of the target DNA, opening up the opportunity for precise gene editing.

The video reproduces the process of CRISPR-Cas9 DNA grafting.

The CRISPR / Cas9 technique has been active on many species, not just bacteria. Scientists have tried to use it to treat genetic diseases in mice, change the color of flowers, remove HIV virus in living animal cells, slow down cancer cells and even modify embryonic genes. people to remove disease-causing genes.

However, so far, the actual observation of the CRISPR process has never been conducted. Scientists know they work, only after they have worked and produced results. On the one hand, it makes the CRISPR theories just a hypothesis. The gene cutting process is simply too small to be seen and returned.

It is not until the first video is made that we have the opportunity to see firsthand how things have happened, within the edited genes. To return to this process, Nureki and his team used a high-speed atomic force microscope .

It is a device that does not work on a pure optical mechanism, but consists of a probe with an extremely small nose, just as small as an atom. The probe is scanned through the surface of the specimen and when it approaches it will interact with other atoms.

The mechanism of operation of the microscope is atomic force.

Van der Waals is a molecular force , generated by electronic polarization, that causes the probe to vibrate. This signal is recorded by a laser and thereby reproduces the image on the scanning surface.

Simply put, the principle of atomic force microscopy works like a painter closes his eyes and touches the specimen, then redraws exactly what he feels. Only, when the laser is used to render the image of a 'touch' atomic probe, it is an objective process and does not depend on an artist's subjectivity.

The video that Japanese scientists recorded was the work of CRISPR posted on Twitter by a team member, Hiroshi Nishimasu. In it, the yellow stuff like cotton balls you see is Cas9 proteins. Brown yarn is DNA. The Cas9 protein has cut the DNA in half for a few seconds.

The entire 10-second video is the first scientific, and the best, of the CRISPR gene editing technique, which we witnessed in the 21st century.

The study was published in Nature Communications.