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Message: <blockquote data-quote="imhotep" data-source="post: 30729517" data-attributes="member: 562115">It was a joint effort by the microbiologist Emmanuelle Charpentier and biochemist Jennifer Doudna that led to the birth of CRISPR/Cas9. Doudna was focused on RNA, and was researching how a repeating sequence of DNA in the bacterial genome enabled bacteria to fight viral infections. Charpentier had published findings about an unusual RNA called tracrRNA, and how it works with the Cas (CRISPR-associated) 9 protein in RNA processing that contributes to the identification and elimination of invading viruses. Their collaboration yielded a leap in innovation with the discovery of how Cas9 is guided by both the tracrRNA and an RNA matching a target sequence, using it to find and cut matching target DNA. They also engineered the two RNAs into different formats, such as truncated versions and a simplified single guide RNA format. They showed that the RNAs could be designed to pinpoint any gene, allowing the Cas9 protein to cut at that spot.</blockquote>

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