Although, CRISPR-Cpf1 is a strange word for most of us, it is the most efficient DNA editing tool amongst allgenetic tools. Human has recognized the double helix of DNA for a long time,but as for how to change and control it, it is still unknown. The “answer” of cancer, AIDS and most of hereditary disease can be found in DNA. The CRISPR-Cpf1 is the key to break the “answer”. Now, the operation mechanism of CRISPR-Cpf1 has been decoded by Chinese scientists.

A research team led by Professor Zhiwei HUANG from Harbin Institute of Technology firstly revealed howCRISPR-Cpf1 recognized the compound structure of crDNA. The research result “The Crystal Structure of Cpf1 in Complex with CRISPR RNA” has been published on Nature on April 21th,2016.

CRISPR-Cpf1 is a tool which can editthe gene in human cells. It was firstly found in 2015 by the United States.Just like the text editor to modify the document, CRISPR-Cpf1 could directly modify the gene. Moreover, it made gene manipulation more efficient and accurate. It indicated that it would be possible to absolutely eliminate disease like cancer and AIDS by using genetic technology.

In 2012, scientists have foundCRISPR-Cas9 system, it was used in target gene of cell. Now it has been widely applied in domains, scientific researches and medical services. Professor Huangsaid that unlike CRISPR-Cas9, CRISPR-Cpf1 is an another gene editing tool whichis benefit to the reparation after gene editing.

As professor Huang introduced that,as same as human, animal and plant, bacteria had system to resist viral attack.It can be called as CRISPR system. He revealed the mature molecular mechanisms of CRISPR-Cpf1 recognizing CRISPRRNA and Cpf1 cutting pre-crRNA. It has important scientific significance for understanding the molecular mechanism of bacteria to resisting viral attack through CRISPR system.

Source: Chinanews.com

Time: 2016.4.26