Variety is the spice of life, and dozens of new CRISPR systems have been discovered by scientists in microorganisms – 188, to be exact. Best known as a powerful gene-editing tool, CRISPR is an inbuilt defense system found in bacteria and simple microbes that allows them to cut up the DNA of attacking viruses. The new findings were published in the journal Science and have expanded the known diversity of CRISPR systems, bringing with it the opportunity for improved gene editing with fewer “off-target” effects.
“This new algorithm allows us to parse through data in a time frame that’s short enough that we can actually recover results and make biological hypotheses,” said co-first study author Soumya Kannan.
The tireless scanning of millions of genomes of microorganisms resulted in not only finding the new types of CRISPR systems, but also extensive experimentation with four of the systems to understand their inner workings. Scientists previously knew about six different flavors of CRISPR systems, but these new types bring a whole new perspective to the world of gene editing.