CRISPR- breakthrough of the year

International journal 'Science' has named CRISPR-“Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats” as “Breakthrough of the Year” in 2015. CRISPR is a powerful genome-editing technique developed by scientists at the University of California. Using the CRISPR method, the scientists killed the parasite that causes malaria by replacing specific genetic material from the mosquito's own DNA. The genetically modified mosquitoes will pass the malaria-fighting genes onto their offspring and after the gene spreads throughout the entire mosquito population, people exposed to these new strains of mosquitoes will be malaria-free.

The CRISPR technique is more effective and less expensive and in the future, this technique will help eradicate malaria and other genetic diseases. It will also help protect some fruits from going extinct.

Professor M Zahidul Haque
Department of Agricultural Extension & Information System, SAU, Dhaka