诺贝尔化学奖授予CRISPR-Cas9基因编辑研究

Chemistry Nobel Honors CRISPR-Cas9

2020年,诺贝尔化学奖授予现就职于德国马普感染生物学研究所的法籍科学家Emmanuelle Charpentier和美国加州大学伯克利分校的Jennifer Doudna,表彰她们发明CRISPR基因编辑方法.她们揭示了Cas9具有RNA介导的DNA核酸内切酶活性,可以切断任意DNA双链,产生双链断裂.她们指出CRISPR具有在活细胞中修改基因的作用,利用CRISPR-Cas9编辑工具,可以精确改变细胞中的DNA.由于简单、高效、廉价等特征,CRISPR已经成为最为流行的基因编辑技术,被称为基因编辑"魔剪".本文介绍了两位诺贝尔化学奖得主的研究成果,概述了CRISPR系统的发现历程,以及CRISPR-Cas9的功能和应用.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020 was awarded jointly to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A.Doudna"for the development of CRISPR genome editing tool".They have discovered the sharpest tools for gene editing:the CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors,which have revolutionary impact on life sciences.The CRISPR system is an adaptive immune system in prokaryotes.Cas9,an effector protein of typeⅡCRISPR-Cas system,functions as a dual-RNA-guided DNA endonuclease,which is able to cleave any dsDNA generating dsDNA break.The CRISPR-Cas9 has been widely used in gene editing,due to its simplicity,high efficiency and low price.This paper introduces the research findings of 2020 Chemistry Nobel Prize winners,summarizes the discovery process of CRISPR system and the activity and application of CRISPR-Cas9.