Double-Edged Double-Helical Discoveries? A Discourse on Gene Editing

Our DNA is remarkable.

Encoding each of our unique blueprints, it describes the form and function of each one of the trillions of cells humming along in our bodies and directs them to work in concert.

A shared common denominator - from microscopic soil organisms and trees reaching overhead to eerie ocean-dwellers and every human individual - it documents our dynamic connection to all other living beings on the planet.

It also holds countless stories of past and present resilience and innovation.

All life on Earth contains DNA; it is a necessity as, written throughout its sequences, are the essential instructions of how to live and adapt from the molecular level up - from responding to uncertain environments to utilizing nutrients to reproduction.

As profound as DNA is in shaping us, would you know that we also shape it? For centuries, our ideas and desires have been imprinted and woven into this genetic material that passes from one generation to the next.

How, you might ask?

What is Gene Editing?

Since our earliest beginnings, from animals we have domesticated to the seeds we have selectively sown, we have carefully curated which traits and qualities of life to wager our greatest hopes of future prosperity on.

These characteristics are attributable to elements of DNA we have named as genes. Genes can play powerful roles in the resolving of an organism’s identity, and the ability to influence them offers up amazing possibilities to not only improve our understandings of how individual components contribute to the whole, but to also apply that understanding in addressing societal issues of hunger, disease, and poverty.

Scientists across the globe are seeking to do so.

Gene editing is a term used today to describe the set of technologies in which the genetic material of an organism - their blueprint of being - is consciously and directly modified in some way. Various methods allow for this alteration of DNA, where genes can be partially or wholly deleted, inserted, and/or substituted at random or in a targeted fashion.

Applications already being realized include promising gene therapies to treat cancer, utilizing bacteria and yeast to synthesize therapeutics, such as insulin in the management of diabetes, and increasing the nutritional content of major crops, such as golden rice.

The advent and use of these techniques are, in many ways, just new riffs on the already revolutionary nature of our DNA. Since the beginning of life as we know it, genetic building blocks have been subject to rearrangement and transformation.

From viruses that hijack hosts to copying errors that occur when new cells are created to replace the old or damaged, changes in the ordering of our genetic puzzle pieces have been a constant, reaching as far back to the first single-celled life forms on Earth. While these revisions in code can often have no distinguishable impact on how the organism or species persists, they have, at times, proven key in surmounting challenges in an environment - be it outbreaks of disease, toxin exposure, famine, etc.

These genetic changes, as a means to develop adaptations, are essential in an uncertain and ever-fluctuating world. They also are beautiful - leading to new kinds of lifeforms and capabilities, as the earth’s amazing biodiversity attests to.

One major aspect making a difference today, however, is that our modern advances in technology allow researchers to enact specific genetic changes, on expedited timescales. Modifications that can take decades or centuries without these tools are now possible to be made within a few years.

In a present and future riddled with mounting pollution levels, increasing incidences of extreme weather events, sea level rising, growing populations to feed, and changing specie distributions and densities that impact disease probabilities and resource availability, this provides hope and promising new avenues to go forward from. To help overcome these obstacles, can we once again call upon the power, resilience, and innovation of DNA, life, and community?

Research done in the realm of gene editing can and has generated a lot of misunderstanding and fear. With the incredible possibility provided by genetic modification, concern is definitely warranted. With human babies modified by the gene editing tool CRISPR, many critical questions of how to employ these tools, and to what end, are joined by what does it mean to be human today, as well as for our collective tomorrows?

In the pursuit of answers and solutions, it is important to help disseminate information widely and have as many people as possible weigh in on this conversation of how we move forward together.

Science is directed by study aims that are reviewed, approved, and often largely dictated by governmental and private funding agencies. More than ever, our collective engagement with, understanding of, input and vote on these matters of life and science are needed to help shape our directives, operations, and outcomes as a global community.

Where do you believe we should go from here? And what steps can, and will, you take in that direction?

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Related Reading

https://theconversation.com/organic-farming-with-gene-editing-an-oxymoron-or-a-tool-for-sustainable-agriculture-101585

https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2018/11/15/how-scientists-are-using-crispr-to-create-non-gmo-crops/

https://www.wired.com/story/crispr-tomato-mutant-future-of-food/

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Author Disclosure

With ~81% of Americans not being able to name a living scientist (by one account), only 5% of the U.S. population being in science and engineering (as reported in 2012), and many media portrayals of scientists being out to rule or destroy the world (thanks Hollywood), I wanted to say hello! I am a plant biology graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, and I am trying to fight stereotypes and improve science literacy and communication. I would love to hear your thoughts, perspectives, and questions regarding gene editing. For more science content, you can follow the hashtag #SciComm, as well as many other scientists directly (including me @H_MLW) on Twitter.