Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'India should take the lead on the gene editing debate' that was published in Newsband

India should take the lead on the gene editing debate

Gene edited humans are probably only a generation away. India could take the lead in starting an international discussion about access to gene editing technology. Researchers used gene editing technology to successfully repair a heart disease-causing genetic mutation. A joint team of United States, Chinese and Korean scientists this week succeeded in repairing a genetic mutation in dozens of human embryos. If these embryos had normally become babies, they would have been born with a genetic heart ailment.  This was prevented with the help of genetic editing done by the scientists.

Over 30,000 single and multiple gene disorders could be eliminated forever by this method. Diseases like diabetes and cancer would be easier to prevent. Mankind is now on the verge of being able to predetermine at the embryonic level among other things, intelligence, height, external features like skin and eye colour, and possibly longevity.

This operation where scientists fix a mutation that thickens the heart muscle is called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The cardiac disease affects about one in 500 people overall.  Correcting the mutation also prevent the mutation from being passed on to future generations. The research marks a major milestone in genome editing of embryos.

The use of CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing tool should be allowed. The U.S. National Academies of Sciences and Medicine allowed scientists to use the tool for research and said the technique to edit embryos will become acceptable for clinical use. But before that happens there is need to address all safety concerns and ethical issues.

What is CRISPR Gene editing technology? CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing tool is safe for preventing certain hereditary disease-causing mutations, for which no other treatment is available. CRISPR-Cas9 is a unique technology that enables geneticists and medical researchers to edit parts of the genome by removing, adding or altering sections of the DNA sequence. It is currently the simplest, most versatile and precise method of genetic manipulation and is therefore causing a buzz in the science world.

How does it work? The CRISPR-Cas9 system consists of two key molecules that introduce a change (mutation) into the DNA. These are: (1) An enzyme called Cas9. This acts as a pair of ‘molecular scissors’ that can cut the two strands of DNA at a specific location in the genome so that bits of DNA can then be added or removed. (2) A piece of RNA called guide RNA (gRNA). This consists of a small piece of pre-designed RNA sequence (about 20 bases long) located within a longer RNA scaffold. The scaffold part binds to DNA and the pre-designed sequence ‘guides’ Cas9 to the right part.