Researchers modify CRISPR to reorganize genome

Researchers at Stanford University have reworked CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology to manipulate the genome in three-dimensional space, allowing them to ferry genetic snippets to different locations in a cell's nucleus. The new technique, dubbed CRISPR-genome organization or simply CRISPR-GO, uses a modified CRISPR protein to reorganize the genome in three dimensions. If CRISPR is like molecular scissors, then CRISPR-GO is like molecular tweezers, grabbing specific bits of the genome and plunking them down in new locations of the nucleus. But it's more than just physical relocation: Displacing genetic elements can change how they function. The research sheds new light on how the genome's spatial organization in the nucleus governs the function of the cell overall.