Gene-Editing is now at your home. How much longer till it’s normal?
Not long is the answer
Humans have been around for roughly two hundred thousand years.While Earth has existed for approximately 4.54 Billion years
Yet we’ve been using the same method of living for as long as we can remember…
- Variation
- Adaptation
- Survival
- Reproduction
- Changes over Time
Those are the 5-principals of the natural selection. But, what if we started to change that to the (un)natural selection. Well we can surely accomplish that by the help of gene-editing.
When people hear the word GMOs — genetically modified organisms — people instantly think that it’s bad and that it contains toxic materials just to make fruits and vegetables bigger.
I know because before I started my deep learning in gene-editing, I thought GMOs were bad.
Well I’ve come to say that, that’s not entirely the case here, in fact gene editing is pretty beneficial in many different ways.
So What is Gene-editing? 🧫
Genome editing is a group of technologies that gives people the ability to change an organism’s DNA. Depending on the type of technology you can add, remove, or alter the genetic material of the organism.
- Wait…what exactly is a genome though?
In simple terms, your genome contains all the information that makes you, run you, and repair you. It refers to all the DNA contained in the cells of our body.
DNA is the instruction manual for an organism, in people genes influence our physical characteristics such as height, hair color, and even diseases we inherit.
Everyone has two sets of genes, one from each parent brought together to produce YOU.
- But, why would we want to genetically edit our genome in the future?
Sometimes our instruction manual carries errors…
What I mean by that, is that our genes can sometimes cause serious illnesses. For instance, If one of our parents has asthma, we can inherit it, because one of our parents carries the specific asthma gene that is then passed on to you.
Gene-editing can help with those faulty genes.
There are many benefits to genetically altering our genome in the near future, such as correcting diseases including single-gene disorders such as cystic fibrosis, hemophilia, and sickle cell disease.
It holds promise for the treatment and prevention of more complex diseases like cancer
We also come to the hands of germline engineering, where we would be able to direct our genetic destiny. Where we can make children in Africa immune to malaria for instance!
TO SAY THE LEAST IT’S BANANAS 🤯🍌
- What about genetically modified foods? Aren’t those bad
In short, No.
GMOs can make crops more nutritious, disease resistant, and able to grow in difficult conditions.
Some more benefits of gene-editing in agriculture are increased crop yields, reduced costs for food or drug production, reduced need for pesticides, greater food security, and medical benefits to the world’s growing population.
In fact, GMO bananas could soon help decrease infant mortality and malnutrition in Africa.
Vitamin A deficiency is estimated to kill up to 700,000 children annually and causes about 300,000 cases of blindness globally each year. So the enriched banana has the potential to significantly impact public health for the better.
About 70% of the population in some African countries rely on cooked banana for food.
NOW that’s BANANAS🍌
How has Gene-editing Been Used in the Past?
First let me give you guys a mini history lesson first 😉
1953: James Waston and Francis Crick discovered the double helix.
1967: DNA ligation links DNA fragments together — The discovery of DNA ligases is considered a pivotal point in molecular biology, because they are essential for the repair and replication of DNA in all organisms.
1971: Type II restriction Enzymes Used for Mapping the DNA — Once the first restriction enzymes were discovered, Daniel Nathans tested them on an SV40 viral genome. He found that the restriction enzyme that Smith discovered, cut the viral genomic DNA into 11 fragments.
After this Scientists started to get into genetic engineering more…
The 1980’s was all about bringing vaccines & treatments to humans
1982: The First Genetically Engineered Human Drug — Synthetic Insulin
1986: First Recombinant Vaccine for Humans is Approved — Pablo D. T. Valenzuela was able to create the world’s first recombinant vaccine using yeast cells
1988: The First Bt Corn Appears in fields — 1988 was the first time that a GMO crop actually appeared in fields in the United States (officially).
The 1990s and 2000s were mainly about Cloning, GMOs and New doors
1994: A Tomato was engineered to stay ripe and is brought to Market (but bombs) — this tomato was known as the “FLAVR SAVR” 🍅
1996: The Cloning of Dolly the Sheep — Dolly was a huge achievement, proving that the process of cloning found in nature could be attributed to organisms that it doesn’t naturally occur in.
2001: The First Gene-Targeted Drug Therapy is Approved — The U.S. FDA approved a drug called Glivec (imatinib), and is still used today as a cancer treatment drug.
2003: Sale of the Glo-Fish as a Pet — On the more fun approach, Alan Blake and Richard Crockett developed the first genetically altered animal for sale as a pet.
How is Gene-Editing Being Used Today and What Potential Do They Have For the World? 🌍
Genome editing has so much potential and when it comes to advancing the human race, many think about CRISPR. Well, you’re not entirely wrong.
In most recent times, Gene-editing has made a pathway for a new era of FDA-Approved therapies and a more sustainable life, some of these include:
- CRISPR
- World’s Biggest Problems
- In Home Gene-Editing Kits
CRISPR 🧬
In 2012, Jennifer Doudna and her team decided to use the biochemical mechanism of CRISPR technology to make precise targeted cuts in an organisms DNA.
By making these precise cuts in DNA, CRISPR made way in endless potential uses in areas of medicine, agriculture, biomaterials and more.
But how?…
CRISPR Cas9 is a is a naturally occurring enzyme found in some bacterias that is used for immunity.
Kind of like our immune system, only 10x better…
CRISPR works by pinpointing a precise DNA sequence within the gene to be altered. After the specific DNA sequence has been pinpointed, an enzyme called Cas9 snips that one DNA sequence.
This allows the DNA sequence that was snipped to be changed or allowed to be replaced by another DNA sequence. The end results can either replace the faulty gene with a healthy one or simply change a gene to make it behave differently.
So in simpler terms, CRISPR Cas9 are molecular scissors that cuts and replaces a specific gene in our DNA.
Worlds Biggest Problems: Zero Hunger 🥘
According the United Nations:
Today, more than 820 million people regularly go to bed hungry, of whom about 135 million suffer from acute hunger largely due to man-made conflicts, climate change and economic downturns.
The COVID-19 pandemic could now double that number, putting an additional 130 million people at risk of suffering acute hunger by the end of 2020, according to the World Food Programme.
In 1988 we were introduced to BT corn, In 1994 we had the FLAVRSAVR. Now in 2015, the first GMO salmon was sold in Canadian markets, this process was more than 25 years in the making, and approved because of the simple need to provide a solution to the world’s overfishing crisis.
There are many other Projects being set in the agricultural aspect of gene-editing and many targeting the same goal of Zero hunger like the super banana in Uganda that could soon help decrease infant mortality.
You can check out this article by The Science daily that talks about Genetically engineered rice and how it could change the stance in agriculture.
In Home Genetic Engineering Home Lab Kits 🏠
Many scientists are skeptical when it come to in home CRISPR lab kits, due to the risks of gene-editing and how it can hurt people since gene-editing is still relatively new.
But why is no one worried about what’s going happen if we don’t allow people to do genetic engineering?
Biohacker Josiah Zayner thinks everyone should be able to change their DNA with CRISPR. That’s why he founded a company called The ODIN, which sells do-it-yourself biotech kits that teach people how to genetically modify bacteria and frogs.
It’s DIY gene therapy that is helping gene-editing become decentralized.
His company has sold tens of thousands of experiments using CRISPR, at an inexpensive price and it allows people to understand how precise gene-editing technology works and how it has revolutionized in the field.
While Josiah is very controversial in the biotechnology field for all of his public experiments of CRISPR on himself. He is allowing people to understand and comprehend what it actually means to genetically modify an organism.
Change is scary, changing what it means to be human is scarier, but what if it was for the best?
As the study of gene-editing continues to grow, new biotechnologies will be found and the closer we’ll be able to achieve the (Un)natural selection.
So whenever you see the next GMO corn at your local grocery store, remember to ask: How much longer til’ we change what it means to be natural?
🔑 Key Takeaways:
- Natural selection has 5-principals: Variation, Adaptation, Survival, Reproduction, and Changes over Time.
- Gene-editing is the technology that gives people the ability to change an organism’s DNA.
- CRISPR is the tool to make precise targeted cuts in an organisms DNA.
- Gene-editing still has many ethical and scientific concerns we still don’t know about.
- When will humans be considered unnatural? And when will Gene-editing be decentralized?
To learn more about gene-editing be sure to visit the website below:
Thank you for reading!
If you ever want to talk about emerging technologies that could change the world, feel free to contact me at isabellalv2005@gmail.com 😉
