Jennifer Doudna’s team found an ancient CRISPR ancestor in viruses using a never-before-seen ‘gapped’ DNA code; the smaller VIPR system can target broadly and may become a new gene-editing tool
The discovery may also reshape ideas about where CRISPR came from. The researchers found VIPR systems in viruses that appear to use them against competing viruses, suggesting that viral competition helped shape this unusual molecular weapon. The genetic code is usually described as an orderly language, read one letter after another in precise three-letter units….
