申論題

翻譯題:

1. The ability to engineer biological systems and organisms holds enormous potential for applications across basic science, medicine and biotechnology. Programmable sequence-specific endonucleases that facilitate precise editing of endogenous genomic loci are now enabling systematic interrogation of genetic elements and causal genetic variations in a broad range of species, including those that have not previously been genetically tractable. A number of genome editing technologies have emerged in recent years, including zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs), transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) and the RNA-guided CRISPR-Cas nuclease system. The first two technologies use a strategy of tethering endonuclease catalytic domains to modular DNA-binding proteins for inducing targeted DNA double-stranded breaks (DSBs) at specific genomic loci. By contrast, Cas9 is a nuclease guided by small RNAs through Watson-Crick base pairing with target DN'A, representing a system that is markedly casier to design, highly specific, eficient and well-suited for high-throughput and multiplexed gene editing for a variety of cell types and organisms (8 分).