Introducing a new class of CRISPR tools

There’s a new CRISPR-guided DNA base editing tool on the block – CGBE1, and its smaller sibling miniCGBE1. A team of researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MA, USA), led by J. Keith Joung has developed a novel CRISPR-based technique that reduces off-target effects and could help researchers to understand pathogenic mutations. The proof-of-concept C-to-G base editors utilize the relatively new form of CRISPR-based gene editing – base editing. Instead of introducing a double-stranded break, base editing directly changes a single base. CRISPR-guided DNA base editing requires fusion proteins that involve a modified form of CRISPR-Cas that uses a guide RNA...