New Rochelle, NY, USA
May 7, 2015

Source: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., Publishers

Researchers have customized and refined a technique derived from the immune system of bacteria to develop the CRISPR-Cas9 genome engineering system, which enables targeted modifications to the genes of virtually any organism. The discovery and development of CRISPR-Cas9 technology, its wide range of potential applications in the agriculture/food industry and in modern medicine, and emerging regulatory issues are explored in a Review article published in OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology, the peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

The article is available free on the OMICS (http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/omi.2015.0023) website until June 5, 2015

"CRISPR-Cas9 Based Genome Engineering: Opportunities in Agri-Food-Nutrition and Healthcare (http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/omi.2015.0023)" provides a detailed description of the CRISPR system and its applications in post-genomics biology. Subin Raj Cheri Kunnumal Rajendran, Dinish Pandey, and Anil Kumar, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology (Uttarakhand, India) and Yuan-Yeu Yau, Northeastern State University (Broken Arrow, OK) describe the advantages of the RNA-guided Cas9 endonuclease-based technology, including the activity, specificity, and target range of the enzyme. The authors discuss the rapidly expanding uses of the CRISPR system in both basic biological research and product development, such as for crop improvement and the discovery of novel therapeutic agents. The regulatory implications of applying CRISPR-based genome editing to agricultural products is an evolving issue awaiting guidance by international regulatory agencies.

"CRISPR-Cas9 technology has triggered a revolution in genome engineering within living systems," says OMICS Editor-in-Chief Vural Özdemir, MD, PhD, DABCP. "This article explains the varied applications and potentials of this technology from agriculture to nutrition to medicine.

http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/omi.2015.00

Full bibliographic informationCRISPR-Cas9 Based Genome Engineering: Opportunities in Agri-Food-Nutrition and Healthcare
Rajendran Subin Raj Cheri Kunnumal, Yau Yuan-Yeu, Pandey Dinesh, and Kumar Anil. OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology. May 2015, 19(5): 261-275. doi:10.1089/omi.2015.0023.
Published in Volume: 19 Issue 5: May 1, 2015
Online Ahead of Print: April 14, 2015