Iyini i-CRISPR?
I-CRISPR (isifinyezo se-clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) iwumndeni wezinhlu ze-DNA ezitholakala kuma-genome ezinto eziphilayo ezinjenge-prokaryotic njengamabhaktheriya nama-archaea. Lokhu kulandelana kutholakala ezingxenyeni ze - DNA zama - bacteriophage ezazisanda kuthelela i - prokaryote. Zisetshenziselwa ukuthola nokucekela phansi i-DNA yama-bacteriophage afanayo phakathi nokutheleleka okulandelayo. Ngakho-ke lezi zinhlu zidlala indima ebalulekile ohlelweni lokuzivikela lwe-antiviral (okungukuthi i-anti-phage) yama-prokaryotes futhi zinikeza uhlobo oluthile lokugonywa okutholakele. I-CRISPR itholakala cishe kuma-genome ama-bacterium alandelanayo angu-50% futhi cishe kuma-archaea alandelanayo angu-90%.  I- Cas9 (noma " CRISPR-associated protein 9 ") iyinhlanganisela ye- enzyme esebenzisa ukulandelana kwe- CRISPR njengesiqondiso sokubona nokuhlukanisa imicu ethile ye- DNA eyisihlanganisi kulandelana kwe- CRISPR. Ama-enzyme e-Cas9 kanye nokulandelana kwe-CRISPR kwakha isisekelo sobuchwepheshe obaziwa ngokuthi i-CRISPR-Cas9 obungasetshenziselwa ukuhlela izakhi zofuzo ngaphakathi kwezinto eziphilayo. Le nqubo yokuhlela inezinhlobonhlobo zezicelo ezihlanganisa ucwaningo oluyisisekelo lwezinto eziphilayo, ukuthuthukiswa kwemikhiqizo yezobuchwepheshe, nokwelashwa kwezifo. Ukuthuthukiswa kwendlela yokuhlela i-genome ye-CRISPR-Cas9 kwaqashelwa yiNobel Prize in Chemistry ngo-2020 eyanikezwa u-Emmanuelle Charpentier noJennifer Doudna.  Ngo-2022, enkambisweni e-United States Patent and Trademark Office (ukuphazamiseka 106,115), i-Patent Trial and Appeal Board yanquma ukuthi umsunguli we-patent yase-US ehlanganisa ukusetshenziswa kwe-CRISPR-Cas9 kumaseli e-eukaryotic nguFeng Zhang, uprofesa weBroad Institute.