This article appeared in Discover’s annual state of science issue as “Editing the Mitochondria.” Support our science journalism by becoming a subscriber.
A new technique has finally opened up one of the final frontiers of gene editing: the mitochondria. These are the mini-organs that power our cells and have a little bit of genetic information of their own.
Until now, the gene-editing tool CRISPR didn’t work inside this part of the cell; CRISPR uses guide RNA to find its target, but RNA can’t get inside the mitochondria. Other gene-editing methods have relied on simply chopping apart mtDNA — the mitochondria’s DNA — rather than editing it. With this new tool, chemical biologist David Liu of the Broad Institute, Harvard University, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute has found a way to actually change the mitochondrial genome.
The new editing tool begins with a bacterial toxin known as DddA, discovered by microbiologist ...
