Should we use somatic nuclear transfer cloning SNT andor ger

Should we use somatic nuclear transfer cloning (SNT) and/or germline CRISPR Cas9 engineering to help a person who suffers from sickle cell anemia? You must include the actual gene mutation, the symptoms of the disease that would be corrected and describe how the scientific method, CRISPR Cas9, could be used to correct the gene defect in your answer. Also, pull in how this action of \'fixing\' the beta-globin gene might affect populations living in Malarial zones. Think about embryonic versus adult stem cells and explain at which level, somatic or germline, at which the gene would need to be delivered. State any ethical concerns, specifically focusing on the subject of \'eugenics\' you may have based on the Bioethics (Unit 6) book and the presentation/discussion we had in class. Caution - opinion must be backed up with some knowledge/evidence you have thus far gained in your studies or that you dig up in the textbooks or elsewhere. Sources must be referenced (even if using the text or bioethics book).

Solution

The domestic pig is an ideal \"dual purpose\" animal model for agricultural and biomedical research. With the availability of genome editing tools such as clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) and associated nuclease Cas9 (CRISPR/Cas9), it is now possible to perform site-specific alterations with relative ease, and will likely help realize the potential of this valuable model. In this article, we investigated for the first time a combination of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) and direct injection of CRISPR/Cas ribonucleoprotein complex targeting GRB10 into the reconstituted oocytes to generate GRB10 ablated Ossabaw fetuses. This strategy resulted in highly efficient (100%) generation of biallelic modifications in cloned fetuses. By combining SCNT with CRISPR/Cas9 microinjection, genome edited animals can now be produced without the need to manage a founder herd, while simultaneously eliminating the need for laborious in vitro culture and screening. Our approach utilizes standard cloning techniques while simultaneously performing genome editing in the cloned zygotes of a large animal model for agriculture and biomedical applications.