Human Nature review – quiet revolution that began in a yoghurt pot

An engrossing documentary about a breakthrough in molecular biology with enormous implications for treating genetic diseasesThis documentary from Adam Bolt and Regina Sobel is about a revolution that has been quietly taking place in molecular biology and medicine: a revolution compared here to the invention of the internet but gaining a fraction of the attention. (The more pertinent comparison may be with nuclear energy.) It is the innovation of gene editing and CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats), a crucial pattern of DNA sequences in micro-organisms that allows them to resist viral infection by replicating a section of the virus ’s DNA and using it as a kind of “wanted” poster to fight off the invader.This mechanism can be used to cut, copy and replace pieces of DNA – to “edit” DNA, like changing a piece of written text – and the technology has enormous implications for treating genetic diseases. Incredibly, it appears to have been developed first not by academic researchers or biotech geniuses, but a yoghurt and cheese manufacturer. Philippe Horvath an d Rodolphe Barrangou of the food firm Danisco developed CRISPR while figuring out how to make their product less susceptible to bacteria.Continue reading...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Documentary films Culture Biology Science Source Type: news