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NCBS METHOD TO DETECT VIRUS ASSOCIATED WITH A RARE SKIN CANCER

Why in news?

  • A team from National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru, has developed a diagnostic system to detect the presence of Merkel cell polyomavirus in Merkel cell carcinoma tumours.
  • The researchers have developed a test using the CRISPR-CAS12 technology.
  • This is an important development, both, from the point of view of diagnostics and giving a prognosis for the condition.

What is Merkel Cell Carcinoma?

  • Merkel cell carcinoma is a rare and aggressive type of skin cancer.
  • Merkel cell carcinoma is associated with old age, excessive exposure to ultraviolet light and a weak immune system.

What is CRISPR-CAS12?

  • CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) is a family of DNA sequences found in the genomes of prokaryotic organisms such as bacteria and archaea.
  • These sequences are derived from DNA fragments of bacteriophages that had previously infected the prokaryote.
  • They are used to detect and destroy DNA from similar bacteriophages during subsequent infections.
  • Hence these sequences play a key role in the antiviral (i.e. anti-phage) defense system of prokaryotes.

Cas12 and Cas9

  • The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-Cas (CRISPR-associated proteins) is a prokaryotic adaptive immune system that is represented in most archaea and many bacteria.
  • In 2015, the nuclease Cas12a was characterized in the CRISPR/Cpf1 system of the bacterium Francisella novicida.
  • Cas12a showed several key differences from Cas9 including: causing a ‘staggered’ cut in double stranded DNA as opposed to the ‘blunt’ cut produced by Cas9 Cas12a. This and other differences provide Cas12 some advantages over Cas9.
March 2024
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