Crispr has given us completely new opportunities to change our genes and a new discovery can make the tool even more powerful .
A research team led by Jennifer Doudna, who was one of the discoverers of Crispr, has found a protein (Cas Φ) that can be used as “scissors.” Cas Φ is half the size of the Cas9 protein used today. This makes it possible to edit areas in DNA that are otherwise difficult to reach with current technology.
The new protein comes from a bacteriophage, which is a virus. An advantage of this is that it is then possible to use special viruses to easily transport the protein into the cells to be edited.
