1 00:00:01,780 --> 00:00:09,439 Hi, we are Alejandro Loeda and Carlos Garcia, and we are going to talk about CRISPR. 2 00:00:10,080 --> 00:00:15,240 That is something that we've been curious about, so we started investigating about it. 3 00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:23,420 So, we're going to firstly say what is it, when and who invented it. 4 00:00:23,839 --> 00:00:31,539 Later on, we will explain how does it work and its future and its uses nowadays. 5 00:00:31,780 --> 00:00:32,840 So, Carlos? 6 00:00:34,340 --> 00:00:34,939 Okay. 7 00:00:36,060 --> 00:00:37,100 What is it? 8 00:00:37,799 --> 00:00:41,520 CRISPR technology is a piece of biochemist technology 9 00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:43,060 that has been recently discovered. 10 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:46,859 What it does, and the reason why it is so revolutionary, 11 00:00:47,719 --> 00:00:49,960 is cut off part of DNA. 12 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:55,079 This is very important and useful in a large variety of sectors, 13 00:00:55,659 --> 00:00:57,140 like health or agriculture. 14 00:00:57,140 --> 00:01:06,079 We will later discuss the future of this new technology as it has become a little bit controversial 15 00:01:06,079 --> 00:01:11,500 since it was first discovered the possibility of using it. 16 00:01:11,500 --> 00:01:18,200 This technology started in, well, not exactly the technology, but the idea of the technology 17 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:29,180 started in 1987 after an article was published describing the way a bacteria, the Streptococcus 18 00:01:29,180 --> 00:01:39,879 biogenus, defended against viral attacks. As they have observed, the bacteria used enzymes 19 00:01:39,879 --> 00:01:47,900 that could destroy genetic material. However, it wasn't until 2012 when a group of scientists 20 00:01:47,900 --> 00:01:51,659 directed by Emmanuel St-Pierre and Jennifer Doudna, 21 00:01:53,420 --> 00:01:58,459 published an article in the Science, 22 00:01:58,859 --> 00:02:01,439 Maya Hacin, that is very prestigious, 23 00:02:02,439 --> 00:02:04,939 demonstrating that they were able to program 24 00:02:04,939 --> 00:02:07,739 in a central way these enzymes 25 00:02:07,739 --> 00:02:13,560 and they could convert these enzymes 26 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:16,099 into a genetic knife 27 00:02:16,099 --> 00:02:19,599 that it could be used in our own benefit. 28 00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:23,580 But how does this really work? 29 00:02:23,900 --> 00:02:26,539 Because it may seem complicated, but it is not. 30 00:02:27,840 --> 00:02:35,740 Firstly, CRISPR is a specialized region of DNA. 31 00:02:35,740 --> 00:02:41,659 It is short for Clustered of Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats. 32 00:02:41,659 --> 00:02:46,879 and in this specialized zone of the DNA 33 00:02:46,879 --> 00:02:50,319 especially region, we can find the nucleotides 34 00:02:50,319 --> 00:02:54,219 as we know they are little parts of genetic material 35 00:02:54,219 --> 00:02:58,379 and spacers all dispersed 36 00:02:58,379 --> 00:03:03,419 interspersed among the sequences of nucleotides 37 00:03:03,419 --> 00:03:08,199 that contain a little bit of genetic material also. 38 00:03:08,199 --> 00:03:17,460 so knowing that in this region there are these two components we can start explaining 39 00:03:17,460 --> 00:03:27,419 so let's put the example of the bacterias so that is easy to understand a virus attacks a bacteria 40 00:03:27,419 --> 00:03:36,460 the bacteria kind of takes these spaces from the virus and stores them so if the same virus 41 00:03:36,460 --> 00:03:42,400 attack this bacteria now the bacteria has a defense mechanism and it is called 42 00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:52,840 protein Cas9 but however a Cas9 that is able to cut DNA strands doesn't know 43 00:03:52,840 --> 00:04:00,460 where to cut so it isn't really useful so that's why it needs the two proteins 44 00:04:00,460 --> 00:04:09,960 of RNA called CRISPR-RNA and transactivating CRISPR-RNA. So in order to produce these two 45 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:19,600 amino acids, it is needed to reproduce the genetic code of the virus. And this is where 46 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:27,920 the spaces come in handy. Because the nucleotides can just reproduce the genetic code from the 47 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:37,680 little strands that the spaces have and the nucleotides recreate the RNA so now the Cas9 48 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:47,759 protein is guided to the specific area that they want to cut in order to kill the virus. 49 00:04:52,490 --> 00:04:58,410 Okay, so how is it used nowadays? Well, animal organs are used for transplants, 50 00:04:58,410 --> 00:05:08,670 however the human body's immune system rejects foreign tissue. Well CRISPR 51 00:05:08,670 --> 00:05:14,250 is being used to modify the pig DNA so that there is any virus that could be 52 00:05:14,250 --> 00:05:20,930 passed to a human and prevent the human to reject foreign tissue. An example of 53 00:05:20,930 --> 00:05:28,670 these are hard touch bands. Moreover CRISPR is used to improve fruits and 54 00:05:28,670 --> 00:05:36,230 vegetables as for example GMOs and well this means that fruits could be 55 00:05:36,230 --> 00:05:44,370 larger and bigger, have more profits and less space cultivated. An example of 56 00:05:44,370 --> 00:05:53,980 these are tomatoes and also we could change the flower color. How about its 57 00:05:53,980 --> 00:05:59,860 future well its future it's a little bit controversial because it's modifying 58 00:05:59,860 --> 00:06:08,740 human embryos and this means that we could avoid inherited diseases but it's 59 00:06:08,740 --> 00:06:14,759 a little bit controversial mainly because there's a case made by he 60 00:06:14,759 --> 00:06:17,980 Jun Kui, who was arrested for 61 00:06:17,980 --> 00:06:22,019 editing two embryos to avoid B. 62 00:06:23,240 --> 00:06:25,980 The future about CRISPR 63 00:06:25,980 --> 00:06:29,839 could be also creating new medicine, as for example 64 00:06:29,839 --> 00:06:34,040 new treatments for curing cancer or blood diseases. 65 00:06:37,939 --> 00:06:39,660 And now to end up with, 66 00:06:39,959 --> 00:06:44,980 we have a dilemma, because as we have already said, 67 00:06:44,980 --> 00:06:59,579 The future of CRISPR, it is pretty uncertain and controversial because of all its benefits, but also because of all its, like, bad things, you know. 68 00:07:00,379 --> 00:07:10,600 So, in 2017, the EFSA, the European Food Safety Authority, approved a legislation that only allowed a 0.9% of modification in the genome of food. 69 00:07:11,319 --> 00:07:19,500 Moreover, the cultivation of GMOs, genetically modified organisms, is not allowed, only its commercialization. 70 00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:24,519 Nowadays in Europe, only four types of soy, one of colza, one of maize, are allowed. 71 00:07:24,839 --> 00:07:31,500 Taking into account that this technology could be very useful in order to avoid climate change in different ways, 72 00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:36,519 what do you think? Should GMOs be allowed or should they be forbidden? 73 00:07:36,519 --> 00:07:40,600 and with this we finish 74 00:07:40,600 --> 00:07:41,899 with our presentation 75 00:07:41,899 --> 00:07:43,459 thanks for listening 76 00:07:43,459 --> 00:07:46,439 and if there's any questions just ask