CRISPR-Cas9 System: A Prospective Pathway toward Combatting Antibiotic Resistance

Abstract

Antibiotic resistance is rising to dangerously high levels throughout the world. To cope with this problem, scientists are working on CRISPR-based research so that antibiotic-resistant bacteria can be killed and attacked almost as quickly as antibiotic-sensitive bacteria. Nuclease activity is found in Cas9, which can be programmed with a specific target sequence. This mechanism will only attack pathogens in the microbiota while preserving commensal bacteria. This article portrays the delivery methods used in the CRISPR-Cas system, which are both viral and non-viral, along with its implications and challenges, such as microbial dysbiosis, off-target effects, and failure to counteract intracellular infections. CRISPR-based systems have a lot of applications, such as correcting mutations, developing diagnostics for infectious diseases, improving crops productions, improving breeding techniques, etc. In the future, CRISPR-based systems will revolutionize the world by curing diseases, improving agriculture, and repairing genetic disorders. Though all the drawbacks of the technology, CRISPR carries great potential; thus, the modification and consideration of some aspects could result in a mind-blowing technique to attain all the applications listed and present a game-changing potential.

Biomaterials-mediated CRISPR/Cas9 delivery: recent challenges and opportunities in gene therapy

“…Another potential method for battling viral illnesses is CRISPR/Cas9 delivery using biomaterials. Infectious agents may be rendered non-viable or less pathogenic by the targeted modification of the pathogen’s genomes using CRISPR/Cas9, greatly minimizing their influence on the wellbeing of humans ( Dubey et al, 2022 ; Javed et al, 2023 ). Biomaterials enable efficient site-specific modification of genes by delivering CRISPR/Cas9 technology directly to infected cells while reducing the impact of off-target genes.…”