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The CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology relies on magnesium ions to facilitate DNA cutting and ensure both strands are broken, according to research from Florida State University. This study provides the first high-resolution images of magnesium ions interacting with the CRISPR-Cas9 enzyme during the cutting process. The findings confirm the important role of magnesium in gene editing and provide valuable insights into the mechanism.
The gene-editing technology known as CRISPR has led to revolutionary changes in agriculture, health research and more.
In research published in Nature Catalysis, scientists at Florida State University produced the first high-resolution, time-lapsed images showing magnesium ions interacting with the CRISPR-Cas9 enzyme while it cut strands of DNA, providing clear evidence that magnesium plays a role in both chemical bond breakage and near-simultaneous DNA cutting.
If you are cutting genes, you don’t want to have only one strand of DNA broken, because the cell can repair it easily without editing. You want both strands to be broken. You need two cuts firing close together. Magnesium plays a role in that, and we saw exactly how that works.”
Hong Li, professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and director of the Institute of Molecular Biophysics
CRISPR-Cas9 is the most widely used tool for genetic manipulation. The technology uses a repurposed enzyme to bind to DNA, allowing alterations at specified locations in a genome.
Scientists have known that magnesium plays a role in this process, but it was unclear exactly how, and no one had been able to capture time-lapsed images of the process up close. By leveraging a slower version of CRISPR-Cas9, this research showed that magnesium ions in the center of the catalysis reaction hold a key to the near-simultaneous cutting.
“I think a lot of times in science, even though you can infer something, you would like the proof,” Li said. “For instance, with magnesium