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An article over at Science Daily is reporting that researchers at Duke University have developed a new method to activate genes by synthetically creating a key component of the epigenome that controls how our genes are expressed. The technique adapts CRISPR in order to deliver the enzyme acetyltransferase to promoters and enhancers rather than the well-known application of splicing DNA. Their research is detailed in a paper to be published in the April 2015 issue of the journal Nature Biotechnology.
From the Science Daily article:
Duke researchers have developed a new method to precisely control when genes are turned on and active.
The new technology allows researchers to turn on specific gene promoters and enhancers - pieces of the genome that control gene activity - by chemically manipulating proteins that package DNA. This web of biomolecules that supports and controls gene activity is known as the epigenome.
The researchers say having the ability to steer the epigenome will help them explore the roles that particular promoters and enhancers play in cell fate or the risk for genetic disease and it could provide a new avenue for gene therapies and guiding stem cell differentiation.
What (if any) are the medical and ethical issues surrounding therapies which might come from this sort of research? Should epigenetic therapies be considered "genetic engineering?"
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Tuesday April 07 2015, @06:28PM
The trick, of course, is that environmental conditions already do this in less controlled, if more natural, ways. It's a bit like worrying whether your fan is going to make raindrops fall in unnatural spots if you turn it on in a thunderstorm.
Treating this like any other medical practice, where each individual treatment path(for any given problem) needs to be clinically proven, seems like a sufficient ethical standard to rise to.