Australian Researchers Develop More Accurate Gene-Editing Tool Than CRISPR

Researchers from the University of Sydney produced seekRNA, a gene editing tool that has higher accuracy and flexibility compared to CRISPR. The technique has successfully been tested in bacteria and will be investigated if it can be applied to complex eukaryotic cells.

CRISPR creates a break in the two strands of DNA and requires other proteins to add the new DNA sequence. Even though CRISPR has multiple applications in different industries, this method can introduce unintentional errors in the DNA.

Scientists decided to develop seekRNA to serve as an alternative to CRISPR. It utilizes a programmable ribonucleic acid (RNA) strand that detects sites for insertion in DNA sequences. Since it doesn't need other proteins, the editing process is shorter, and the errors are minimized.

"We are very much in the early days of what gene editing can do. We hope that by developing this new approach to gene editing, we can contribute to advances in health, agriculture, and biotechnology," said Professor Ruth Hall, one of the authors of the study.

Read the article in Nature Communications for more information.