CRISPR-Cas9 and gene editing

Over the years Genome editing has provided scientists with the ability to change an organisms DNA. A number of strategies for genome editing have been developed such as Homologous recombination, Transcription activator like effector nucleases (TALENs), and Zinc finger nucleases (ZFN), all of which have been associated with challenges most important of which is their restricted application and difficulty in construction.(1) Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) unlike its predecessors is a straightforward technology with little assembly needed. CRISPRs are classes of repeated DNA sequences that act simultaneously with CRISPR-associated (Cas) genes towards foreign invading nucleotides such as phages and plasmids meditating bacterial and archaeal immunity. There are three forms of CRISPR/Cas systems recognized thus far, the type II system being the most extensively studied.