’This is just the beginning’: RNA editing set to democratise viral engineering

A new RNA editing tool is opening up new ways to develop novel RNA therapies, speed up engineering of human viruses and test drugs. In a proof of concept experiment, researchers used a cutting enzyme – an endonuclease – and a programmable RNA repair enzyme to modify an RNA virus genome.

Crispr is famed for its precision and efficiency in editing DNA. It’s a dual system that uses repeat sequences of guide RNA (Crispr) to lock into a target piece of DNA, which is then cut by a Crispr-associated (Cas) protein. It is a strategy that archaea and bacteria deploy to recognise and slice up foreign DNA from viral enemies.