My Cell Bio book is discussing how bacteria can become resistant to antibiotics.

Question

My Cell Bio book is discussing how bacteria can become resistant to antibiotics. Antibiotics that are used to target important processes of protein synthesis in bacteria seem to be having problems that prevent them from being effective. One possible solution that was talked about in the book is using CRISPR to target these antibiotic resistant genes in bacteria.

So here is my question, how effective would this method be? My book mentions a few of the genes that may play a role in antibiotic resistance. Is it possible for CRISPR to target every gene mutation of every resistant bacteria? Would this reversal be quick enough to fight the growth of resistant colonies on a large scale?

Explanation / Answer

Clustered, Regularly Interspaced, Short Palindromic Repeat (CRISPR) technology,is an important new approach for generating RNA-guided nucleases.Genome editing mediated by these nucleases has been used to rapidly, easily and efficiently modify endogenous genes in a wide variety of biomedically important cell types and in organisms that have traditionally been challenging to manipulate genetically.

This technology is at iys very early stage. It can be successfully used against not just resistant bacterias - so called superbugs - but also against viruses including Oncoviruses - causing cancer - yet this technology is not without its shortcomings.

The first of these shortcomings is the requirement of a PAM sequence for the proper recognition of a target site by the gRNA. While this requirement does increase the specificity of the system, it has also decreased the flexibility in the design of gRNAs for the purpose of genome editing. The second shortcoming of the CRISPR system is the presence of unintended or “off-target” effects.

The biggest roadblock in the development of these technologies is the issue of safety. It has been shown that the CRISPR/Cas9 technology can create the necessary changes to correct certain genetic defects in cells cultured from diseased individuals. However, it is not clear what the systemic effects of the treatment would be when administered to an individual. Therefore, the next step in the development of these treatments will be corresponding advances in methods to ensure that only the diseased cells of interest would be able to express the CRISPR/Cas components.

So, in a nutshell - it is not possible for CRISPR to yarget every gene mutation of every resistant bacteria. Only those resistant genes with Sequence codons where this gene can bind and initiate.

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