CRISPR is a supposedly precise way to edit your genes to correct defects. It also has the capacity to change the rate of evolution in a specific species, like mosquitoes. Since individual genes are viewed as isolated rocks on a cellular beach, the spreading of mutations was a surprise. It shouldn't have been, since each gene has a network of regulators that turn it on and off and change how powerful it is. This research probably shows that the regulatory networks for different genes are interconnected, so that when you artificially change one gene, the change alters the regulatory network in other genes as well. And the flow of unanticipated consequences continues to swell......
For the past few years, a new scientific tool known as CRISPR-Cas9 has been hailed as the future of medicine. The technology, which has been the center of both extreme fascination and a bitter patent dispute between two research groups, enables scientists to edit genomes. That is, they can remove harmful genes that cause diseases and replace them with normal genes that don’t—at least in theory. While exciting to many, the idea has also elicited fears that the technology could create dangerous mutations and be used in unbridled ways, for example in attempts to create superhumans and designer babies.
According to a new report, such fears may be well founded. The study, published in Nature Methods , found that using CRISPR-Cas9 to edit a genome can result in hundreds of unintended mutations being introduced. For the report, researchers sequenced the genomes of mice that had already undergone CRISPR-Cas9 procedures. They then scrutinized the edited genomes for any changes in the mouse genes—and they found plenty. The technology had accomplished the original intended task of correcting a gene that causes blindness, but it had also resulted in 1,500 other small changes and 100 large changes. Not one of those changes had been predicted by the researchers.