Indian scientists engineer CRISPR protein to boost gene editing

Scientists from Kolkata-based Bose Institute have created GlowCas9 -- a CRISPR protein that lights up while performing gene editing -- to help boost treatment of genetic diseases and cancer, said the Ministry of Science and Technology on Wednesday.

While CRISPR-Cas9 had been designed to cut and correct DNA with accuracy, scientists could not observe Cas9, the molecular surgeon, in living cells in real time, as traditional detection methods relying on fixing or breaking open cells make it impossible to track the process as it unfolds. With the newly engineered CRISPR protein, scientists could observe the Cas9 enzyme as it enables them to edit genomes using the CRISPR-Cas9 system for treating genetic diseases, including cancer.

“Gene therapy could be a permanent cure for many life-threatening hereditary diseases. Developing effective, affordable, and safe gene therapy methods remained a challenge for decades,” said the Ministry.

“Tracking gene editing as it happens or watching the molecular machinery as it works, cutting, repairing, and rewriting DNA inside living cells can help monitor CRISPR operations in living cells and tissues without destroying them,” it added.

The finding led by Dr. Basudeb Maji, from the Bose Institute, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), opens a new chapter in the visualisation and tracking of genome engineering.

Arkadeep Karmakar, a Ph.D. researcher in Maji’s lab, designed GlowCas9 -- a bioluminescent version of Cas9 that glows inside cells, by fusing Cas9 with a split nano-luciferase enzyme derived from deep-sea shrimp proteins.