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DNA Editing Technologies:
A ‘Gateway to Heaven’?

Name
English 10
Teacher
Date

The science of inserting, replacing or deleting DNA in a strand has been around since the
early 1990’s
...
A perfect
world where disease is inexistent is possible
...

Improvements in medication, extinction of genetic disease and cures for other diseases-such as
cancer- that have lingering for a long time, out-weigh the possible negatives of DNA editing
technologies
...

The first engineered nuclease technology “Zink Finger”, was first presented in 1991 and became
the most commonly used tool in this field for over a decade
...
It wasn’t accurate and
certain ​nucleotide triplets​ (3 basic structural units that form one unit of genetic code in a DNA
molecule) weren’t able to be targeted
...
TALEN (​T​ranscription ​A​ctivator-​L​ike ​E​ffector ​N​uclease)
became the “Method of the Year 2011”, more precise than Zink Finger, less expensive to operate
and opened a “…larger window of potential target sites…” meaning that it’s not as restricted as
Zink Finger
...
Not only was the cost of operation significantly lower
(a single kit costs 425$ US for TALEN; 75$ US for CRISPR), but the actual process of operating
the tool is straight forward and simple, researcher Jennifer Doudna (one of the researchers who

did early work on CRISPR) said “A grad student could do it
...
A group of researchers were studying an everyday common bacteria and
how its defense mechanism acted when in the presence of a foreign virus realized that it had a
similar structure to a virus that preys on bacteria
...
This entire process can be controlled and
used to precisely insert, replace or delete a basic unit of a DNA molecule, not only in viruses, but
in humans as well
...
CRISPR in a nutshell, is a system that is
controlled by a short guide RNA, gRNA sequences (the function of RNA is to carry information
from genes to other parts of the cell)
...
Since
CRISPR is capable of ‘slice & dice-ing” DNA on its own, genetic engineers only need to find a
DNA sequence they want changed or disabled, and leave the rest to the CRISPR system
...
In order to control a CRISPR system,
researchers must use a gRNA that will target a specific DNA strand, not a wild virus
...
Many tens of thousands of
gRNA sequences have been created and are available to genetic engineers specialized in DNA
editing
...

CRISPR-CAS9 differs from the other method, CRISPR-cpf1, in very little ways that can have
completely different outcomes at the end of the operation
...
When they are used to cut a DNA strand, both RNAs cut
the strand in the same place, leaving rounded off ends of the strand that usually undergo
mutations once they reconnect, making it extremely difficult to simply “cut (the DNA strand)
and drop (a new set of data)”
...

Although genetically engineering may seem like the gateway to heaven from all diseases
or disorders such as Huntington’s disease, cystic fibrosis, Tay-Sachs etc, there are several
reasons why we aren’t free of all these diseases or disorders
...
By creating an ‘anti-mosquito’ mosquito, the possibility of eradicating
that entire species is very high in a short matter of time
...

By genetically altering a human embryo to be free of disorders or diseases, we are
opening up a world of ‘perfect’ humans, where desirable traits can be selected and implemented
in the embryo
...
Starting off with just removing an undesired gene, continuing with choosing which trait to

have implemented in a child can ultimately lead to a dystopian-like society
...

Improvements may no longer be made; research for life saving drugs may halt, as there won’t
need to be any
...
It is also a possibility, that none of this happens, but as of now, with all the
information that is currently available, it is unknown what social consequences human editing
will have on the future
...
Sickle-cell anemia, an occasionally fatal genetic disorder, has a special effect: when
two genes sickle cells are paired together, it causes anemia
...
If research in genetics wasn’t as
advanced as it is, we would not have known about the benefits of sickle-cell anemia
...

A world that is free of disorders, diseases, and sickness outweighs the ​potential​ negatives
that pessimists may fear
...
Advancements
in DNA editing technologies will increase the rate at which a world free of disease will appear
...
Breakthroughs in
science (or in any field for that matter) are made because of risks people had to take in making
them a reality
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Citation

Corbyn, Zoe
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Theguardian, 10 May 2015
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14 Jan
...

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com/science/2015/may/10/crispr-genome-editing-dna-upgrade-technol
ogy-genetic-disease>
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"Easy DNA Editing Will Remake the World
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" ​Wired
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Conde Nast Digital, 1 Aug
...
Web
...
2016
...
wired
...


"Scientists Debate Ethics of Human Gene Editing at International Summit
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Dec
...
15
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...
com/science/2015/dec/01/human-gene-editing-international-summit>
...
"Humans 2
...
" ​The New Yorker​
...
2015
...

14 Jan
...
...
com/magazine/2015/11/16/the-gene-hackers>
...
"Everything You Need to Know About CRISPR, the New Tool That Edits
DNA
...
Gizmodo, 5 June 2015
...
14 Jan
...

...




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Title: Essay On DNA editing Technologies Controversy
Description: 98% achieved Essay on DNA editing Technologies, includes controversial topics Front page and Bibliography included

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