CRISPR Off Button Found, Renders Gene-Editing Tool Inert

CRISPR is the most powerful tool to edit genes with in history, allowing for miraculous or devastating results depending on how it is used. An anti-CRISPR tool was already found before, which prevents the method from making any unwanted mutations. Now, scientists have found an actual off switch so that the tool can be rendered useless.

The switch was found by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco within particular bacterial viruses, Phys.org reports. The new discovery has staggering implications on genetics and advanced medical technology since it allows scientists to have significantly more control over the powerful tool than before.

The study was led by Benjamin Rauch, the first author and Joseph Bondy-Denomy, the senior author. The results were published in a paper in the journal Cell.

The source of the switch is the Listeria monocytogenes, where up to four proteins that can make CRISPR ineffective were found. What’s more interesting is the fact that the CRISPR system that the proteins target is the Streptococcus pyogenes, which is the one that most researchers use. This makes the anti-CRISPR discovery a more all-encompassing solution to a serious problem in gene editing, Genome Web reports.

"Just as CRISPR technology was developed from the natural anti-viral defense systems in bacteria, we can also take advantage of the anti-CRISPR proteins that viruses have sculpted to get around those bacterial defenses," Rauch explained.

As to what effects and benefits this new tool could have, the answer has to do with some of the unintended consequences of an editing tool that can have a large area of effect. By adding the new anti-CRISPR system into the editing treatments that researchers use, it’s basically like creating a narrower, sharper scalpel for surgery. This leads to fewer risks of unnecessary cuts and allows for more expedient gene editing.