5 Real-World Gene Editing Breakthroughs That Sounds Like Science Fiction

Genome editing is one of the most recurring themes in science fiction. Where annihilation envisioned a world of mutated landscapes & creatures, Jurassic Park pictured a future with de-extinction of dinosaurs, and Elysium imagined an era where every disease is curable. Whether it is a genetic accident with adverse outcomes; or the desirability and feasibility of a planned genetic alteration, gene editing is always an underpinning in science fiction.

Since the 1970s, when Biochemists Herbert Boyer and Stanley Cohen introduced gene editing, it is doing wonders to recreate science fiction in real life, from defeating genetic abnormalities to emergent cloning techniques and extended shelf lives (Li et al, 2020) Even though we are not yet at the point where we can resurrect dinosaurs and other extinct species, scientists can now perform surgeries on genes, specifically altering DNA and manipulating cells in ways hardly possible before. 

Major Gene Editing Tools

According to the Human Genome Project, our bodies contain 20,000 to 25,000 genes that produce various traits inherited from our parents, such as height, body type, hair, skin, and eye color, etc.

However, there are certain gene variants that can make us sick. So, scientists are using a variety of gene-editing tools to precisely modify the genome at target locations to suppress the potential diseases and abnormalities that may arise as a result of such variants. (Zhang et al., 2018).  

Listed below are four powerful genome editing tools with a lot of promise for genetic engineering,

•  Zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs)

• Single-stranded oligo DNA nucleotides (ssODNs) 

• Transcription activator-like effector nuclease (TALENs) 

•   Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats & CRISPR-associated protein 9 (CRISPR-Cas9). (Weeks, 2017) 

     The most recent one is CRISPR-Cas9, which has sparked considerable interest in the scientific community due to its cheaper, faster, more reliable, and much efficient mechanism when compared to other genome editing methods.

Hence, in the fast-emerging world of genetic engineering, CRISPR is making ground-breaking discoveries. According to the researcher of The Wild Canadian Year, Graham Duggan,

“From designer babies to curing deadly genetic diseases, CRISPR technology is a powerful tool.”

1.      Xenotransplantation

Growing human organs in animals, as envisioned in Margaret Atwood's science fiction novel Oryx and Crake, is already a reality.

University of California researchers are working on cutting-edge research to produce an almost infinite supply of human organ replacements by implanting human stem cells into the embryos of pigs and sheep.

Transplant rejections, and cross-species infections, are important obstacles to overcome. Advanced gene-editing techniques like CRISPR are assisting in the solution of these issues by modifying the porcine genome to increase compatibility. For example, in “triple-knockout” pigs, gene editing eliminated the expression of all three major antigens known to react with natural human anti-pig antibodies. As a result, human antibody binding to these cells is reduced. (Cooper et al., 2018)

2.      Designer Babies

Doing in vitro genome-editing to produce unique offspring with special traits like a lower risk of disease or a preference for a specific gender may sound like something out of science fiction — and it is. Gattaca, a 1997 American futuristic sci-fi film, depicted a future society driven by eugenics, with children conceived through genetic selection.

With the advancement of mitochondrial DNA transfer and gene-editing tools, the production of precise genome-edited designer babies is becoming a more realistic possibility in the 21st century. (Pang et al., 2016)  

At a gene-editing conference in Hong Kong in November 2018, Dr. Jiankui He of the Southern University of Science and Technology announced the birth of the world's first genetically modified embryo twins. He manipulated the CCR5 gene in those embryos to keep the children safe from HIV infection since their father was infected with the virus. (Rose & Brown, 2019)

3.      DNA ‘tape recorders’

Imagine the cells telling the story of their lives, from the time they descended from a single fertilized egg to the present day, about the molecules they've seen and the signals they've sent to their neighbors.

The DNA tape recorder is something similar to that idea. Even though scientists haven't quite given cells an ability to speak, they have given them a kind of memory—one that records bits and pieces of their life history over a week or more.

GESTALT (Genome editing of synthetic target arrays for lineage tracing) utilizes CRISPR/Cas9 to gain lineage-specific information from DNA that scientists can then read and record to generate large-scale maps of cell lineage in multicellular systems. (McKenna et al., 2016)

 Ahmad Khalil, a biomedical engineer at Boston University says,

“They've done a really exceptional job turning DNA into readable, writable memory inside living cells. I think it's a very cool new direction for synthetic biology.”

4.      De-Extinction

In the same way that Jurassic Park depicted de-extinction of dinosaurs, scientists in the real world are also working on the resurrection of extinct species.

Researchers from Spain and France announced in 2009 that they had successfully created a clone of an extinct species of Pyrenean ibex. Its mother was a hybrid of another ibex species and a domestic goat. The Pyrenean ibex was cloned using the same technology that was used to successfully clone Dolly the sheep in 1996. (Folch et al., 2009)

Similarly, in 2013, Australian scientists successfully created embryos from an extinct frog, known as the Lazarus frog. They did this by injecting nuclei from 40-year-old frozen Lazarus frog cells into a donor cell from a different species of frog. (White, 2013)

5.      Extended Lifespan

Longevity and immortality have long been popular plot points in science fiction. We now have the ability to bring it about through gene editing.

Beijing-based researchers have developed a new type of gene therapy that can slow down the aging process in mice and even double their life expectancy. These findings could lead to similar treatments for humans in the future.

The method involves inactivating kat7, a gene found in mammalian cells that the scientists discovered to be a key contributor to cellular aging. They used a technique known as a lentiviral vector to inactivate it in the livers of mice. (Wang et al., 2021)

“These mice show after 6-8 months overall improved appearance and grip strength and most importantly they have extended lifespan for about 25%”                                                                                                                Professor Qu Jing, a co-supervisor of the project.

Even though this method is still a long way from being ready for human trials as a large amount of funding and additional research is required, it advances our understanding of aging mechanisms and presents new potential targets for aging interventions.                

References

·         Li, H., Yang, Y., Hong, W., Huang, M., Wu, M., & Zhao, X. (2020). Applications of genome editing technology in the targeted therapy of human diseases: mechanisms, advances and prospects. Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41392-019-0089-y

·         Zhang, Y., Massel, K., Godwin, I. D., & Gao, C. (2018). Applications and potential of genome editing in crop improvement. Genome biology, 19(1), 1-11.

·         Weeks, D. P. (2017). Gene editing in polyploid crops: wheat, camelina, canola, potato, cotton, peanut, sugar cane, and citrus. Progress in molecular biology and translational science, 149, 65-80.

·         Cooper, D. K. C., Gaston, R., Eckhoff, D., Ladowski, J., Yamamoto, T., Wang, L., & Tector, A. J. (2018). Xenotransplantation—the current status and prospects. British Medical Bulletin, 125(1), 5.

·         Pang, R. T., & Ho, P. (2016). Designer babies. Obstetrics, Gynaecology & Reproductive Medicine, 26(2), 59–60.

·         Rose, B. I., & Brown, S. (2019). Genetically modified babies and a first application of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR-Cas9). Obstetrics & Gynecology, 134(1), 157-162.

·         McKenna, A., Findlay, G. M., Gagnon, J. A., Horwitz, M. S., Schier, A. F., & Shendure, J. (2016). Whole-organism lineage tracing by combinatorial and cumulative genome editing. Science, 353(6298).

·         Folch, J., Cocero, M. J., Chesné, P., Alabart, J. L., Domínguez, V., Cognié, Y., & Vignon, X. (2009). First birth of an animal from an extinct subspecies (Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica) by cloning. Theriogenology, 71(6), 1026-1034.

·         White, A. (2013). The Lazarus project: Australian scientists lead the way in trying to restore extinct species. Science Education News, 62(1), 13-16.

·         Wang, W., Zheng, Y., Sun, S., Li, W., Song, M., Ji, Q., & Liu, G. H. (2021). A genome-wide CRISPR-based screen identifies KAT7 as a driver of cellular senescence. Science Translational Medicine, 13(575).

Websites

·         Linder, C. (2020, August 26). How Real Is Genetic Engineering in Sci-Fi? Popular Mechanics. https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a33795705/genetic-engineering-in-popular-sci-fi/

·         Fernández, C. R. (2021, August 3). 5 Real-Life Technologies Where Biotech Meets Science Fiction. Labiotech.Eu. https://www.labiotech.eu/best-biotech/biotech-science-fiction/

·         Sternberg, S. H. (2020). The Biological Breakthrough of CRISPR-Based Gene Editing. OpenMind. https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/articles/the-biological-breakthrough-of-crispr-based-gene-editing/

·         What are genome editing and CRISPR-Cas9?: MedlinePlus Genetics. (2018). Medlineplus. https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/understanding/genomicresearch/genomeediting/

 By: Hadia Islam