Lesson Plans | Find out how CRISPR is revolutionizing science
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/12/learning/lesson-plans/explore-how-crispr-is-revolutionizing-science.html
Lesson Overview
Featured Article: “CRISPR, 10 Years Later: Learn to Rewrite Life’s Code” by Carl Zimmer
The gene-editing technology known as CRISPR, which turned 10 years old this year, has led to innovations in medicine, evolution and agriculture. However, it has also raised deep ethical questions about altering human DNA.
In this lesson, students will learn how CRISPR works, how the field is changing science, and how scientists are grappling with the ethical questions this revolutionary technology raises.
Warm-Up
Part I: Watch the video below about the original CRISPR system known as CRISPR-Cas9. As you watch, try to gather information for the following questions:
How have scientists created the CRISPR-Cas9 system to cut and even replace DNA sequences in animal or human genes?
Part II: The diagram below illustrates the four stages of the gene editing process:
1. Target the right gene. 2. Bind the target.3. Cut the DNA.4. Repair and edit DNA.
Based on what you learned from the video, try to explain what happens in each step of the CRISPR system. Working with a partner can help.
Part III: Before reading the featured article, write down any questions you have about gene editing or its implications.
Questions for Writing and Discussion
Read the article and answer the following questions:
1. The article points to several ways that CRISPR is changing science. What do you think are the most important changes and why?
2. The invention of the CRISPR gene editing method was revolutionary. Why do you think it is so revolutionary?
3. “Did you make that CRISPR?” The term CRISPR has become a verb in the scientific community. Can you think of what you could do with CRISPR? Why?
4. What are the disadvantages of CRISPR-Cas9? How might new versions of CRISPR address some of these limitations?
5. The article discusses the complex ethical issues that CRISPR raises. What questions concern you the most? Why?
Going Further Options
1. Human gene editing: As CRISPR continues to improve, editing human embryos may eventually become a safe and effective treatment for various diseases. Will it become acceptable or even routine to repair disease-causing genes in the embryo in the laboratory? What if the parents wanted to add traits they thought were more desirable—such as height, eye color, or intelligence?
What laws or criteria should international organizations, national governments, and the scientific community establish to ensure that human gene editing remains a public health tool with an emphasis on safety, efficacy, and ethics? To learn more about the ethics and concerns of gene editing, read Once Science Fiction, Gene Editing Is Now a Threatening Reality. Then, with a partner or small group, develop guidelines for researching human gene editing. You can compare your ideas with some of the guidelines and recommendations already adopted by scientists and the World Health Organization. What should happen next?
2. The many uses of CRISPR: Ten years after Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier reported their discovery of CRISPR, the gene-editing system remains at the center of ambitious scientific projects and complex ethical debates. It continues to create opportunities for research and revitalization of old studies. Biochemists use it and so do other scientists: entomologists, cardiologists, oncologists, zoologists, botanists.
The article “CRISPR’s Many Uses: Scientists Tell All” describes six possibilities and ongoing projects involving CRISPR. Read about all six and then choose the study that interests you the most and explain why.
3. Primary editing: Rodolphe Barrangou, one of the researchers cited in the article, predicted that primary editing would eventually become part of the standard CRISPR toolbox. But for now, he says, the technique is still too complex to be widely used. Do some further research on the main edit. How can it improve upon the original CRISPR system? Do you think it will eventually become widely used? Why or why not?
Find more lesson plans and teaching ideas here.
Does CRISPR change DNA?
The procedure does not change a person’s genetic code, but changes the DNA in a localized area of the retina.
What happens to DNA after CRISPR? CRISPR-Cas9 generates DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) to activate cellular DNA repair pathways for genome editing. Repair of DSBs results in small insertions or deletions (indels) and other complex byproducts, including large deletions and chromosomal translocations.
Does gene editing change your DNA?
Genome editing (also called gene editing) is a group of technologies that allow scientists to change an organism’s DNA. These technologies allow genetic material to be added, removed, or changed at specific locations in the genome.
What is the function of the Cas9 gene product?
Clustered Regularly Interspaced Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9 is a gene editing technology that is causing a major revolution in biomedical research. This makes it possible to quickly, cheaply and relatively easily correct errors in the genome and turn genes on or off in cells and organisms.
What is the function of the Cas9 protein? The Cas9 protein is responsible for positioning and cutting target DNA in both natural and engineered CRISPR/Cas systems. The Cas9 protein has six domains, REC I, REC II, Bridge Helix, PAM Interacting, HNH, and RuvC (Figure 1) (Jinek et al. 2014; Nishimasu et al. 2014).
What is the function of Cas9 quizlet?
Cas9 cleaves the double-stranded DNA target and cleaves both strands after the PAM. Basically, it gets into the cell and then, using the template RNA sequence for the desired DNA sequence, it can cut out the specific DNA sequence.
What is Cas9 what does it stand for and what does it do?
Several approaches have been developed for genome editing. The best known of these is called CRISPR-Cas9, short for clustered regularly spaced short palindromic repeats and CRISPR-associated protein 9.
What is the function of the Cas9 gene?
When the target DNA is found, Cas9 – one of the enzymes produced by the CRISPR system – binds to the DNA and cuts it, turning off the target gene. Using modified versions of Cas9, researchers can activate gene expression instead of cutting DNA. These methods allow researchers to study the function of a gene.
What are the two main components of CRISPR technology?
CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing involves two main components: a single guide RNA (gRNA) and a CRISPR-associated endonuclease (Cas).
What are the main components of the CRISPR system? Engineered CRISPR systems contain two components: a guide RNA (gRNA or sgRNA) and a CRISPR-associated endonuclease (Cas protein). gRNA is a short synthetic RNA consisting of the framework sequence required for Cas binding and a user-defined – 20-nucleotide spacer that defines the genomic target to be modified.
What are the two main components of CRISPR technology quizlet?
The two main parts of CRISPR DNA are REPEATS, which are short segments of DNA that are palindromes, meaning that the transcribed RNA can form HAIRPINS. They are all IDENTICAL and separate from each other and are used to mark and help the bacteria find FIELDS. The other parts are SPACERS, which are between the repeats.
What are the three components of the CRISPR system?
The three main components of the CRISPR locus are shown: the cas genes, the leader sequence and the repeat spacer array. Repeats are shown as gray boxes and spacers are colored bars. The arrangement of the three components is not always as shown.
What are the main components in a standard CRISPR reaction and what is their purpose?
The CRISPR-Cas9 system consists of two key molecules that cause a change (mutation?) in DNA. They are: Enzyme? called Cas9. It acts as a pair of “molecular scissors” that can cut two strands of DNA at a specific location in the genome so that bits of DNA can then be added or removed.
