Organism or group
Bacteria
Small single-celled organisms without a nucleus, found almost everywhere on Earth. Most bacteria in the human body are harmless, and some are helpful.
CRISPR
A bacterial immune system that researchers adapted into a programmable tool for cutting chosen DNA sequences.Source: NHGRISource: Barrangou et al., 2007Source: Jinek et al., 2012
Also called Cas9, CRISPR-Cas9.
Technology or method
How CRISPR connects
CRISPR comes from
CRISPR uses
Level of life
RNA
A single-stranded relative of DNA. Messenger RNA carries a gene's instructions to ribosomes, and other RNAs help build proteins and control genes.
CRISPR makes possible
Technology or method
Gene editing
Making targeted changes to DNA in living cells. Newer base and prime editors change letters without cutting both strands.
Emerging researchOpen in Biotech Lab
CRISPR raises questions of
Ethics and safety
Genome editing governance
Recommendations for overseeing human genome editing, which distinguish editing a patient's body cells from heritable editing.
Studied in
Your progress
Sources & further reading
The explanations on this page are our own summaries of these sources. Follow a link to read the original; if anything here disagrees with it, the original wins. How we choose and check sources.
CRISPR (opens the original in a new tab)
National Human Genome Research Institute. Talking Glossary of Genomic and Genetic Terms. National Human Genome Research Institute, NIH.
ReferenceGovernment sourceEducationalCRISPR provides acquired resistance against viruses in prokaryotes (opens the original in a new tab)
Barrangou R, Fremaux C, Deveau H, et al. (2007). Science 315:1709-1712.
Peer-reviewedPrimary researchA programmable dual-RNA-guided DNA endonuclease in adaptive bacterial immunity (opens the original in a new tab)
Jinek M, Chylinski K, Fonfara I, et al. (2012). Science 337:816-821.
Showed Cas9 can be programmed with guide RNA to cut chosen DNA sequences.
Peer-reviewedPrimary research