Rapid Fire
India’s First Gene-Edited Sheep
- 28 May 2025
- 2 min read
Researchers from Kashmir have successfully developed India’s first gene-edited sheep using CRISPR-Cas9 technology, under a project funded by the ICAR.
- They edited the myostatin gene in a local Merino lamb, increasing muscle mass by 30%, similar to European Texel sheep. It contains no foreign DNA, making it non-transgenic.
Gene Editing
- About: Gene Editing (or Genome Editing) is a biotechnology that enables the precise modification of an organism’s genetic material (DNA or RNA).
- It allows scientists to add, delete, or alter specific gene sequences within the genome using specialised tools.
- Key Gene Editing Methods:
- CRISPR-Cas9: CRISPR-Cas9 (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) is a widely used gene-editing tool that uses a guide RNA (gRNA) to direct the Cas9 enzyme to a specific DNA sequence, where it makes a double-strand cut; the cell then repairs the DNA, enabling gene disruption or insertion.
- The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020 was awarded jointly to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna for the development of a method for genome editing.
- CRISPR-Cas9: CRISPR-Cas9 (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) is a widely used gene-editing tool that uses a guide RNA (gRNA) to direct the Cas9 enzyme to a specific DNA sequence, where it makes a double-strand cut; the cell then repairs the DNA, enabling gene disruption or insertion.
- Zinc Finger Nucleases (ZFNs): ZFNs are artificial gene-editing tools composed of a DNA-binding domain (zinc finger proteins) and a DNA-cleaving domain (FokI endonuclease).
- The zinc finger proteins are engineered to recognize and bind specific DNA sequences, while the FokI enzyme cuts the DNA at the target site.
- Gene Knockout is a genetic technique where a specific gene is deliberately disabled or deleted to stop its protein expression. It helps study gene function by comparing traits in organisms with and without the gene.
| Read More: Genome Sequencing |
