Scientists have identified a gene-editing system believed to be over four billion years old, one that may have given rise to CRISPR and could eventually surpass it as a tool for modifying DNA. The system, called VIPR — short for…
Jennifer Doudna's team published two papers Thursday in Science describing VIPR, a virus-derived gene-editing system believed to predate CRISPR by billions of years.nytimes+1
VIPR's smaller molecules and broader DNA-targeting ability could make it a more versatile tool for genome engineering, according to the researchers and outside experts.nytimes+1
The system has been reprogrammed for transcriptional repression in phages, but translating it into clinical or agricultural use will require significant further work.biorxiv