Chuck Darwin<p>Researchers uncover a new CRISPR-like system in animals that can edit the human genome </p><p>A team of researchers led by Feng Zhang at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard has uncovered the first <a href="https://c.im/tags/programmable" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>programmable</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/RNA" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>RNA</span></a>-<a href="https://c.im/tags/guided" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>guided</span></a> system in <a href="https://c.im/tags/eukaryotes" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>eukaryotes</span></a> — organisms that include fungi, plants, and animals.</p><p>In a study published today in Nature, the team describes how the system is based on a protein called <a href="https://c.im/tags/Fanzor" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Fanzor</span></a>. They showed that Fanzor proteins use RNA as a guide to target DNA precisely, and that Fanzors can be reprogrammed to edit the genome of human cells. </p><p>The <a href="https://c.im/tags/compact" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>compact</span></a> Fanzor systems have the potential to be more easily delivered to cells and tissues as therapeutics than <a href="https://c.im/tags/CRISPR" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>CRISPR</span></a>-<a href="https://c.im/tags/Cas" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Cas</span></a> systems, and further refinements to improve their targeting efficiency could make them a valuable new technology for human <a href="https://c.im/tags/genome" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>genome</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/editing" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>editing</span></a></p><p><a href="https://news.mit.edu/2023/fanzor-system-in-animals-can-edit-human-genome-0628" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">news.mit.edu/2023/fanzor-syste</span><span class="invisible">m-in-animals-can-edit-human-genome-0628</span></a></p>