
Scientists Find Form of Crispr Gene Editing with New Capabilities - dnetesn
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/04/science/rna-c2c2-gene-editing-dna-crispr.html?action=click&contentCollection=science&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront
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redditmigrant
If you are interested in learning more about CRISPR checkout this article -
[http://gizmodo.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-
crispr-...](http://gizmodo.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-crispr-the-
new-tool-1702114381) .

This podcast by Radiolab also breaks down the idea really well -
[http://www.radiolab.org/story/antibodies-
part-1-crispr/](http://www.radiolab.org/story/antibodies-part-1-crispr/) .

I am currently reading this book - The Gene [http://www.amazon.com/Gene-
Intimate-History-Siddhartha-Mukhe...](http://www.amazon.com/Gene-Intimate-
History-Siddhartha-
Mukherjee/dp/1476733503/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1465093665&sr=8-1&keywords=The+gene)
to gain a better understanding of what genes are and I have found it to be
really well written even for someone who last studied biology over 15 years
ago.

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amelius
This gene editing technology sounds powerful, but also dangerous. Should we be
worried?

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88e282102ae2e5b
No. You could eat a jar of it and nothing in your genome would change - you'd
just digest it like any other protein. You could sit in a bath of it, again,
no problem.

In fact, the downside of crispr is that making changes in mammals is still
difficult. Progress is being made on delivery mechanisms, but it fundamentally
can't go into a runaway process. You'll always need an injection of some sort,
or some deliberate action the part of a doctor.

~~~
Obi_Juan_Kenobi
> but it fundamentally can't go into a runaway process.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_drive](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_drive)

The basic summary is that you can make a CRISPR construct that will copy
itself into the homologous chromosome in a zygote/embryo. Thus, any progeny
resulting from mating with an individual with the construct will be homozygous
for said construct, a runaway process.

This is being considered as a way to eliminate deadly pathogens, and obviously
could be used to wreak immeasurable ecological harm. I still wouldn't worry
about it for humans, though, as simple genetic testing and further editing
could counteract it.

~~~
JulianMorrison
Gene drives can't harm us but they could easily wreak havoc on fast
reproducing species we depend upon. Bees, are what I'd target if I were
inclined to cause apocalypses. And perhaps soil nematodes.

~~~
deftnerd
I read a trio of apocalypse short story collections earlier in the year and
one of the ones that stuck in my head the most was a trio of stories...
"Spore", "Fruiting Bodies", and "Resistance" by Seanan McGuire. It centered
around a molecular biologist who worked a lab that accidentally releases a
modified strain of a "hardier, healthier, and easier-to-grow bread mold, that
was resistant to virtually every fungicide and sterilizing agent we knew"

It becomes a fungal apex predator and is capable of consuming living tissue.

It was one of the most frightening apocalypse scenarios I've ever read because
it seemed somewhat plausible. A hardier fungus could change ecosystems
dramatically.

About 300 million years ago, fungi evolved the ability to break down lignin.
Before then when biomass died, it didn't rot away and slowly got turned into
the coal and oil deposits that we now consume. Fallen trees stayed where they
fell for thousands of years and got turned into petrified wood.

Since that evolution, everything changed so much that it affected future
geology.

Never underestimate the ability of our fuzzy fungi cousins and how they can
change the world.

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bunkydoo
People who think strong AI will cause a violent apocalypse are gravely
mistaken. CRISPR gene editing is the eminent domain of conscious AI, and a
conscious machine would seek to create designer organisms to inhabit other
worlds as well as potentially birth humans superior to what we know today to
become leaders of our sociological hierarchies. It would take just a few
generations to rid our race of things like depression, anxiety and mental
illness with this kind of intervention. While providing the opportunity to
increase diversity to a level where no two humans would be alike physically.

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kingkawn
Pass that shit

~~~
lxmorj
+1

