Gene editing is not without complications: it has a history of high-profile failures and procedural mis-steps among its users. That said, a new generation of safer editing techniques and more targeted payload delivery — along with novel ideas about how to manipulate the genome indirectly — shows clear promise. The next generation of gene editors are now being developed to be more precise and less toxic, thereby creating fewer side effects, unintentional alterations and immune reactions. Also under development are more targeted ways to deliver the editor into tissues that are hard to reach, including novel methods that emerged during the fight against COVID-19.
In recent years, new questions have emerged about alternative ways the genome can be tailored and manipulated. Especially intriguing has been the notion of epigenome editing, which can exert powerful effects that are reversible and tuneable. This requires a better understanding of the links between gene networks and disorders, but the field of metagenomics has been advancing steadily, and looks like it could deliver on this.
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In March 2023, a Statement from the Organising Committee of the Third International Summit on Human Genome Editing emphasised the advancements and ethical considerations surrounding somatic genome editing, calling for global cooperation and judicious oversight in the face of this rapidly evolving field. In the same month, a Japanese research effort published Generation of functional oocytes from male mice in vitro, which delved into groundbreaking techniques that convert XY chromosomes to XX in mouse stem cells. This discovery heralds a new horizon for treating infertility linked to chromosomal anomalies and unveils the promising potential of bipaternal reproduction. Introduced by MIT researchers in June, Fanzor is a eukaryotic programmable RNA-guided endonuclease describes Fanzor, a counterpart to prokaryotic CRISPR-Cas systems. Fanzor amplifies our understanding of RNA-guided endonucleases across life's domains and paves the way for revolutionary human genome engineering applications.
