Transforming ecology and conservation biology through genome editing

As the conservation challenges increase, new approaches are needed to help combat losses in biodiversity and slow or reverse the decline of threatened species. Genome-editing technology is changing the face of modern biology, facilitating applications that were unimaginable only a decade ago. The technology has the potential to make significant contributions to the fields of evolutionary biology, ecology, and conservation, yet the fear of unintended consequences from designer ecosystems containing engineered organisms has stifled innovation. To overcome this gap in the understanding of what genome editing is and what its capabilities are, more research is needed to translate genome-editing discoveries into tools for ecological research. Emerging and future genome-editing technologies include new clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) targeted sequencing and nucleic acid detection approaches as well as species genetic barcoding and somatic genome-editing technologies. These genome-editing tools have the potential to transform the environmental sciences by providing new noninvasive methods for monitoring threatened species or for enhancing critical adaptive traits. A pioneering effort by the conservation community is required to apply these technologies to real-world conservation problems.     

Public views about editing genes in wildlife for conservation

Developments in CRISPR-based gene-editing technologies have generated a growing number of proposals to edit genes in wildlife to meet conservation goals. As these proposals have attracted greater attention, controversies have emerged among scientists and stakeholder groups over potential consequences and ethical implications of gene editing. Responsible governance cannot occur without consulting broader publics, yet little effort has been made to systematically assess public understandings and beliefs in relation to this new area of applied genetic engineering. We analyzed data from a survey of U.S. adults (n = 1600), collected by YouGov, and that examined respondents’ concerns about gene editing in animal and plant wildlife and how those concerns are shaped by cultural dispositions toward science and beliefs about the appropriateness of intervening in nature at the genetic level. On average, respondents perceived more risk than benefit in using these tools. Over 70% agreed that gene editing in wildlife could be “easily used for the wrong purposes.” When evaluating the moral acceptability of gene editing in wildlife, respondents evaluated applications to improve survival in endangered wildlife as more morally acceptable than applications to decrease abundance in a population or eliminate a population. Belief in the authority of scientific knowledge was positively related to favorable views of the benefits, risks, and moral acceptability of editing genes in wildlife. The belief that editing genes in wildlife inappropriately intervenes in nature predicted relatively more concern about risks and moral acceptability and skepticism about benefits. Given high levels of concern and skepticism about gene editing in wildlife for conservation among the U.S. public, a take-it-slow approach to making decisions about when or whether to use these tools is advisable. Early opinions, including those uncovered in this study, are likely to be provisional. Thus, consulting the public should be an ongoing process.     

CRISPR/Cas系统抵御细菌耐药

近年来,细菌耐药性问题在全球范围内日益严重,世界各地不断出现各种新型耐药基因及"超级细菌",以此形成的细菌耐药性污染已成为威胁全球公共卫生与环境安全的重大问题。目前除了在管理上规范合理用药和限制抗生素排放,应探讨抵御细菌耐药的分子机制,有效地从根本上遏制细菌耐药的产生。CRISPR系统作为一种天然免疫系统,可用来对抗入侵的外源性遗传物质,其结构和功能与细菌耐药及毒力因素密切相关,深入分析两者的关系有助于更好地理解细菌耐药机制,为防治细菌耐药提供了新的方向。     

Research progress on CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing technique in plants北大核心CSCD

Many physical, chemical, and biotic stresses always threaten plants during their growth and development. Using the genome editing technique is a good strategy to improve plant characteristics. CRISPR/Cas (clustered regulatory interspaced short palindromic repeats / CRISPR-associated protein), the adaptive and heritable immune system of prokaryotes, is a genome editing technique newly developed during recent years. At present, the type II CRISPR / Cas9 system is most widely used. Many plants, such as Arabidopsis thaliana, tobacco, soybean, tomato, potato, rice, wheat, maize, sorghum, petunia, banana, sweet orange, apple, poplar, and Marchantia polymorpha, have been edited successfully for stress tolerance, delay of fruit ripening, herbicide resistance, and disease resistance, etc. This system is achieved by the formation of nuclease Cas9 and crRNA: tracrRNA (CRISPR-derived RNA:trans-activating RNA) complex. Further studies about the effect of the promoters of Cas9 and gRNA and the number of gRNA targets on gene editing efficiency have been discussed. © 2018 Science Press. All rights reserved.