Genetic engineering researchers have discovered a powerful tool that can be used to edit genes on a larger scale. This tool will allow researchers to rearrange, recombine, invert, duplicate, move, and perform other editing operations on very long DNA sequences. In the future, this is expected to lead to more advanced gene editing therapeutics and treatments for diseases.
This next generation genomic design method, called the bridge recombinase mechanism, exists naturally in our genetic machinery, and can be used to program and edit DNA.
This gene editing method, which exists naturally and has now been discovered, enhances the human ability to edit genomes beyond the capabilities and scope of CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats), a technology that can be used to modify the DNA of living organisms. It utilises mobile genetic elements or “jumping genes”, which cut and paste themselves into genomes and are present in all forms of life, performing on-the-go DNA manipulation through all living beings.
Both CRISPR and RNA Interface (RNAi), another form of gene editing, work by blocking gene expression or activating it. RNAi does so by targeting RNA molecules, which then do the work of editing genes, while CRISPR edits DNA directly.
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The RNA bridge, on the other hand, modifies large sequences of DNA instead of just a tiny segment consisting of a handful of genes. This greatly expands the scope of changes that can be brought about by the technique, which is also a limitation of the method.
