Feng Zhang's lat­est gene edit­ing trawl reels in 188 new CRISPR sys­tems

The next wave of gene edit­ing tech­nol­o­gy could come from bac­te­ria liv­ing in Antarc­tic lakes, coal mines or even dog sali­va, and those are just a few of the odd places where sci­en­tists have iden­ti­fied 188 new CRISPR sys­tems that could be re­pur­posed as gene edit­ing ther­a­pies, di­ag­nos­tic sen­sors or re­search tools.

Sci­en­tists are rac­ing to dis­cov­er CRISPR en­zymes or sim­i­lar gene-al­ter­ing nu­cle­as­es that could lead to new and im­proved gene edit­ing tech­niques — or at least new­ly patentable ones. Much like the tax­on­o­mists of yore who vied to dis­cov­er and name new plants and an­i­mals, there’s a strong urge for bi­ol­o­gists to be the first to cat­a­log the nat­ur­al di­ver­si­ty of CRISPR sys­tems.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER