New CRISPR-based tool can probe and control several genetic circuits at once:
Every cell in our body has a computer-like control system that sends biological signals through thousands of circuits to monitor the cell's needs and regulate its responses.
But when diseases such as cancer arise, these regulatory circuits often go awry, resulting in unnatural signals and responses. The ability to accurately detect these abnormal disease signals would be a potential avenue for more precise treatments.
Now, Stanford researchers have devised a biological tool that can not only detect such faulty genetic circuits but also "debug" them—like running a patch cord around a computer hardware glitch—to facilitate the elimination of cancer cells, for instance.
In an article in the journal Molecular Cell, Stanley Qi and his team describe how they built their sense-and-respond system by modifying the CRISPR-Cas gene-editing tool, which works like a molecular switch to repair faulty genes. Qi is an assistant professor of bioengineering and of chemical and systems biology.
Qi had previously developed Cas tools that could perform multiple tasks, such as switching desired genes on or off. In his latest work, with graduate student Hannah Kempton, he expanded on that concept to develop a CRISPR-Cas tool that performs these different tasks only in the presence of different combinations of biological signals.
Journal Reference:
Hannah R. Kempton et al, Multiple Input Sensing and Signal Integration Using a Split Cas12a System, Molecular Cell (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.molcel.2020.01.016
