Scientists in Spain have put forward what they describe as the first non-covalent strategy for delivering the CRISPR Cas9 ribonucleoprotein into cells.1
Cas9 is a large RNA-guided DNA endonuclease enzyme that is responsible for accurately recognising and cutting the desired sequence of DNA in a cell’s genome during the gene editing process known as CRISPR. At the moment, CRISPR scientists typically transfect cells with a plasmid containing instructions to make Cas9: however, this isn’t ideal as it might result in permanent DNA recombination and persistent expression, which could have adverse effects. Researchers are therefore exploring methods that deliver Cas9 into cells.
Read the full story by Adrian Robinson on Chemistry World.
1 I Lostalé-Seijo et al, Chem. Sci., 2017, DOI: 10.1039/c7sc03918b (This paper is open access.)