Targeted A-to-G base editing in human mitochondrial DNA with programmable deaminases
- Journal:
- Cell
- Published:
- DOI:
- 10.1016/j.cell.2022.03.039
- Affiliations:
- 2
- Authors:
- 8
Research Highlight
Extending editing of mitochondrial DNA
© KTSDesign/SCIENCEPHOTOLIBRARY/Getty Images
The number of mitochondrial genetic diseases that can be probed using DNA editing has been quadrupled thanks to a method that can switch adenine bases in human mitochondrial DNA to guanine ones.
Mutations in the DNA of mitochondria — the organelles that power cells — give rise to genetic diseases that afflict at least one person in 5,000. They can also cause age-related disorders such as diabetes and cancer.
Editing of mitochondrial DNA would allow researchers to gain more insights into mitochondrial genetic disorders, and it may eventually provide a way to treat them. But current editing methods can only swap a cytosine base with a thymine one.
Now, eight researchers from the Institute for Basic Science in South Korea have devised a way to convert an adenine base into a guanine one in human mitochondrial DNA.
This raises the proportion of pathogenic mutations involving a single base pair in mitochondrial DNA that can be edited from 10% to over 40%.
References
- Cell 185, 1764–1776 (2022). doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2022.03.039
Institutions | Authors | Share |
---|---|---|
Institute for Basic Science (IBS), South Korea | 0.75 | |
Seoul National University (SNU), South Korea | 0.25 |