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Designing, Packaging, and Delivery of High Titer CRISPR Retro and Lentiviruses via Stereotaxic Injection
Published on: May 23, 2016
Manipulation of genes could inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection that causes COVID-19 pandemics
Arnab Banerjee1, Sandip Mukherjee1, Bithin K Maji1
1Department of Physiology (UG & PG), Serampore College, Serampore, Hooghly 712201, India.
Abstract:
The year 2020 witnessed an unpredictable pandemic situation due to novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreaks. This condition can be more severe if the patient has comorbidities. Failure of viable treatment for such viral infection caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is due to lack of identification. Thus, modern and productive biotechnology-based tools are being used to manipulate target genes by introducing the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas (CRISPR-associated) system. Moreover, it has now been used as a tool to inhibit viral replication. Hence, it can be hypothesized that the CRISPR/Cas system can be a viable tool to target both the SARS-CoV-2 genome with specific target RNA sequence and host factors to destroy the SARS-CoV-2 community via inhibition of viral replication and infection. Moreover, comorbidities and COVID-19 escalate the rate of mortality globally, and as a result, we have faced this pandemic. CRISPR/Cas-mediated genetic manipulation to knockdown viral sequences may be a preventive strategy against such pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2. Furthermore, prophylactic antiviral CRISPR in human cells (PAC-MAN) along with CRISPR/Cas13d efficiently degrades the specific RNA sequence to inhibit viral replication. Therefore, we suggest that CRISPR/Cas system with PAC-MAN could be a useful tool to fight against such a global pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2. This is an alternative preventive approach of management against the pandemic to destroy the target sequence of RNA in SARS-CoV-2 by viral inhibition.
Insights
The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas system offers a novel strategy to combat COVID-19 by targeting the SARS-CoV-2 genome. This biotechnology tool inhibits viral replication, potentially preventing severe infections and reducing mortality rates.
Area of Science:
- Biotechnology
- Molecular Biology
- Genetics
Background:
- The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by SARS-CoV-2, poses a severe global health threat, exacerbated by comorbidities.
- Limited effective treatments for SARS-CoV-2 infections necessitate innovative therapeutic strategies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the potential of the CRISPR/Cas system as a tool to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 replication and infection.
- To investigate CRISPR/Cas-mediated genetic manipulation as a preventive measure against SARS-CoV-2.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas system to target specific RNA sequences in the SARS-CoV-2 genome.
- Employing CRISPR/Cas13d with the prophylactic antiviral CRISPR in human cells (PAC-MAN) system for efficient RNA degradation.
Main Results:
- The CRISPR/Cas system demonstrates potential for inhibiting viral replication by targeting the SARS-CoV-2 genome.
- PAC-MAN combined with CRISPR/Cas13d effectively degrades viral RNA, inhibiting replication.
Conclusions:
- The CRISPR/Cas system, particularly with PAC-MAN, presents a promising alternative preventive strategy against SARS-CoV-2.
- This approach offers a method to combat the COVID-19 pandemic by inhibiting viral RNA and infection.
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