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DUCHENNE'S. "In vivo genome editing improves muscle function in a mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Exon 23 deletion by CRISPR-Cas9 resulted in expression of the modified dystrophin gene, partial recovery of functional dystrophin protein in skeletal myofibers and cardiac muscle, improvement of muscle biochemistry, and significant enhancement of muscle force." https://lnkd.in/dWMSugr View in LinkedIn

HUMAN USE. "Last year, researchers in China shocked the world (and alarmed many in the scientific community) by modifying the DNA of human embryos. Now, as reported in Nature News, a research team led by Yong Fan at Guangzhou Medical University has used CRISPR, a powerful gene editing tool, to introduce HIV-resistance into the embryos." https://lnkd.in/dG3viYq View in LinkedIn

THE PROBLEM. “Metagenomes, at least in principle, are unbiased representations of the environs from which they originate (apart from possible sequencing biases). Herein, also lies the intrinsic weakness of metagenomics: technically, it is never known which organism a given sequence comes from.” https://lnkd.in/dyavu7e View in LinkedIn

CULTURE REQUIREMENT. “Metagenomes are not constrained by the inherent requirement of traditional sequence databases that for genome sequencing, an organism has to be clearly identified and, at least in the case of microbes, grown in the laboratory.” https://lnkd.in/dyavu7e View in LinkedIn

TRANSITIONAL FORMS. “Polintons (also known as Mavericks) are large DNA transposons that are widespread in the genomes of eukaryotes. We have recently shown that Polintons encode virus capsid proteins, which suggests that these transposons might form virions, at least under some conditions.” https://lnkd.in/dRhP7NQ View in LinkedIn

GLOBAL ROLES. “Bacteria are often referred to as the engines that drive nutrient cycles in the marine environment. They do this by catalyzing key processes such as CO2 fixation, organic matter recycling, conversion of nitrogen, and removal of toxic hydrogen sulfide. To extend the analogy, viruses may be the mechanics who tinker with the efficiency of these engines by shuttling metabolic genes between bacterial host cells.” https://lnkd.in/dTnw2ET View in LinkedIn

SHUFFLING GENES. “Viruses can alter the course of bacterial evolution by introducing new genes into the cells they infect. Bacterial DNA can be taken up by virus particles and shuttled to the next host bacterial cell, where it can be used to the new cell's advantage.” https://lnkd.in/dTnw2ET View in LinkedIn