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Detect and destroy: CRISPR-based technologies for the response against viruses

2021; Cell Press; Volume: 29; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.chom.2021.04.003

1934-6069

Catherine A. Freije, Pardis C. Sabeti,

Innovation and Socioeconomic Development

Despite numerous viral outbreaks in the last decade, including a devastating global pandemic, diagnostic and therapeutic technologies remain severely lacking. CRISPR-Cas systems have the potential to address these critical needs in the response against infectious disease. Initially discovered as the bacterial adaptive immune system, these systems provide a unique opportunity to create programmable, sequence-specific technologies for detection of viral nucleic acids and inhibition of viral replication. This review summarizes how CRISPR-Cas systems—in particular the recently discovered DNA-targeting Cas12 and RNA-targeting Cas13, both possessing a unique trans-cleavage activity—are being harnessed for viral diagnostics and therapies. We further highlight the numerous technologies whose development has accelerated in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.