A team led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has overcome a major constraint for cutting and editing DNA by CRISPR-Cas enzymes and other technologies. The recent innovation, which is published in Nature Biotechnology, will simplify and expedite molecular cloning approaches and expand their utility.
October 11, 2022
A team led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has overcome a major constraint for cutting and editing DNA by CRISPR-Cas enzymes and other technologies. The recent innovation, which is published in Nature Biotechnology, will simplify and expedite molecular cloning approaches and expand their utility.
CRISPR-Cas editing has transformed the ability of researchers to alter DNA—for example, to cleave specific DNA sequences in ways not possible with restriction enzymes, or proteins isolated from bacteria that have been used for decades to cleave DNA sequences at specific sites. Although CRISPR-Cas tools can be programmed to target and cut virtually any DNA sequence, a major constraint in their targeting is the requirement to first recognize a short sequence flanking the target called a protospacer adjacent motif (PAM).
