Artificial intelligence can predict how adeptly a gene-editing tool can slice and alter RNA, the single-stranded molecule that plays multiple roles in regulating genes and translating them into proteins.
The gene-editing tool is similar to the well-known CRISPR-Cas9 system, which uses an enzyme borrowed from the immune systems of bacteria to target and cleave specific strands of DNA. But unlike the CRISPR-Cas9 system, this gene editor uses a different molecule, Cas13, to edit RNA. In CRISPR-Cas systems, the Cas is a guide molecule that can be programmed to target a segment of DNA or RNA. The Cas guide molecule leads the CRISPR molecule to that segment, where the CRISPR molecule does the work of slicing the genome.
For some applications, targeting RNA is more desirable than targeting DNA, according to Neville Sanjana, a bioengineer and geneticist at the New York Genome Center and New York Univ. who is developing the Cas13 tool. DNA is double-stranded, so it’s difficult to target just one strand of the genome. RNA, which is copied from DNA and acts as the workhorse that translates genes into proteins, among other functions, is single-stranded, so it’s easier to make more precise edits by targeting a single RNA strand.
Most exciting to Sanjana and...
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