BIOL SCI 150 Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: Zinc Finger, Cas9, Crispr
14 Mar 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
A type of genetic engineering in which dna is inserted, deleted, modified or replaced in the genome of a living organism. Candidates for human gene editing - mutations in genes that affect blood diseases. Tay-sachs - a disease that is common in ashkenazi jews. Blood disorders are the best b/c there is a supply of stem cells that can be easily removed from the body, editing and then re-introduced. In order to do gene editing effectively, you need to have a double strand break at a specific location in the genome. There are three systems that have been developed to locate the correct place to make this cut: zinc finger nucleases. Uses a part of the protein called zinc fingers that have a characteristic shape. Different zinc fingers can bind to different three base dna sequences. If a zinc finger binds, a nuclease cuts the dna, enabling the zinc fingers to be used like scissors.
