Order of authorship in the original publication: Jinek, Chylinski, Fonfar, Hauer, Doudna, Charpentier. Doudna, Charpentier and colleagues showed for the first time that the CRISPR evolutionary immune tool of bacteria against bacteriophages could be manipulated, reprogrammed, and guided to make very specific "cuts" on desired target segments of DNA in the lab, making this a gene-targeting and genome-editing tool. This potentially allowed scientists to change or rewrite the genetic code of any organism at will. However, at this point the science was only applied to bacteria. Digital facsimile from PubMedCentral at this link.

In 2020 Charpentier and Doudna were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry “for the development of a method for genome editing.”

See also Nos. 11845, 11867 and 11849.

 (Thanks to Juan Weiss for this reference and its interpretation.)

Order of authorship in the original publication: Jinek, East, Cheng...Doudna. Doudna and colleagues presented the first demonstration that the CRISPR Cas/Cas9 bacterial editing tool functions could be applied in human cells. The DNA of cells modified in this research were human embryonic kidney cells called HEK-293. The authors summarized the consequences of this paper in the last sentence of their Abstract, which read, "These results show that RNA-programmed genome editing is a facile strategy for introducing site-specific genetic changes in human cells." Digital facsimile from PubMedCentral at this link.

(Thanks to Juan Weiss for this reference and its interpretation.)

Order of authorship in the original paper: Doubna, Charpenter.

"Abstract

"The advent of facile genome engineering using the bacterial RNA-guided CRISPR-Cas9 system in animals and plants is transforming biology. We review the history of CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced palindromic repeat) biology from its initial discovery through the elucidation of the CRISPR-Cas9 enzyme mechanism, which has set the stage for remarkable developments using this technology to modify, regulate, or mark genomic loci in a wide variety of cells and organisms from all three domains of life. These results highlight a new era in which genomic manipulation is no longer a bottleneck to experiments, paving the way toward fundamental discoveries in biology, with applications in all branches of biotechnology, as well as strategies for human therapeutics."

(Thanks to Juan Weiss for this reference and its interpretation.)

A review of the scope of potential genome editing applications, the strategies from the most basic (2012) to the most recent (i.e. No. 11866), the current status of tissue specific delivery, accuracy, precision and safety of genome editing, clinical/therapeutic genome editing, and heritable genome editing. The 115 references to landmarks in the brief history of this science are arranged with bold letter synopsis under each, documenting watershed moments over the previous decade. Doudma concluded her Abstract with, "Genome editing is— or will soon be— in the clinic for several diseases, with more applications under development. The rapid pace of the field demands active efforts to ensure that this breakthrough technology is used responsibly to treat, cure and prevent genetic diseases."

(Thanks to Juan Weiss for this reference and its interpretation.)

Order of authorship in the original publication: Al-Shayeb, Sachdeva, Chen.... Doudna.  Open access, available from nature.com at this link.

This paper was a collaboration of about 50 scientists of diverse regions and specialities, assembled to advance knowledge of the bacteriophage evolutionary response and the tools huge phages possess against the onslaught of the bacterial immune system. The authors reconstructed 351 phage sequences and derived metagenomics datasets acquired from human feces, buccal areas, animal fecal samples, freshwater lakes and rivers, marine ecosystems sediments, hot springs soils, deep subsurface habitats, etc., mirroring most aspects of the earth's ecosystems. The main findings of this research were:

1. Many of the genomes of large phages have a length that rivals those of small celled bacteria.

2. These expanded genomes of large phages include diverse and previously undescribed CRISPR-Cas systems, TRNA's, tRNA synthases, tRNA modification enzymes, ribosomal proteins and others.

3. CRISPR-Cas systems of phages have the capacity to silence host transcriptional factors and translational genes, potentially as part of a larger interaction network that intercepts translation to redirect biosynthesis to phage encoded functions.

4. Some phages may repurpose bacterial CRISPR-Cas systems to eliminate competing phages.

5. The number of huge genome phages was far higher than expected.

6. Some phages that lack genes for interference and spacer integration have similar CRISPR repeats as their hosts and may therefore use the Cas proteins of the host.

(Thanks to Juan Weiss for this reference and its interpretation.)