Abstract
The recent release of stunning pictures from NASA, courtesy of the James Webb Space Telescope, is a reminder of the visually amazing world we live in and an opportunity to reflect on the relative scale of our universe. Stargazing at the infinitely large using an orbital telescope is complemented by zooming in at the invisibly small using a microscope. Much of our readership is expert in probing the microbial world, which has its own mysteries and compelling visuals, notably the amazing quantity and diversity of viruses that lurk around.
Our knowledge of the virome has advanced in recent years but still needs to be addressed. Conveniently, several CRISPR-based technologies enable us to navigate the viral space and gaze into the molecular basis of virology. This issue's cover, drawing as inspiration the awe-inspiring Webb telescope, illustrates how Cas effectors provide timely opportunities to decipher the viral world, at a time when viruses are both in our bodies and on our mind (see page XX).
Ironically, since CRISPR-Cas systems are defense systems that provide bona fide adaptive immunity against viruses, they are naturally designed to detect, identify, and tinker with viral nucleic acids. This provides a uniquely adapted molecular basis to engineer novel technologies to, in turn, detect, identify, and tinker with viral DNA and RNA. Advances over the past decade have unearthed powerful CRISPR-based tools based on nimble Cas effectors that open new avenues to sense and manipulate the virome.
This issue of The CRISPR Journal illustrates how diverse Cas effectors and CRISPR platforms enable the biosensing and manipulation of nucleic acids. A review highlights recent advances in Cas9-, Cas12-, and Cas13-based point-of-care pathogen detection, followed by a Cas12a-based platform to capture and sequence targets of interest, and a complementary study on JACKIE, a means to quantify editing outcomes. This is accompanied by an in silico integrated software, CASPER, enabling the expansion and deployment of Cas effectors.
The applications covered also encompass continued advances in CRISPR-based gene and genome editing, including coverage of specific diseases (see the Perspective on Rett Syndrome), model development (see the Review on induced pluripotent stem cells-derived solid tumor models), and a series of research articles on marker-less editing (CriMCE), myogenesis enhancement, epidermolysis bullosa, and as always advances on CRISPR biology and genetics covering adaptation (protospacer selection).
So many opportunities remain in the CRISPR realm, with wide-open possibilities provided by the limited space we have explored until now, notwithstanding how far and how fast we have gone in clinical and therapeutic pursuits of CRISPR-based medicines. Let us challenge our community to ponder how we can creatively explore the world we live in, detect, and manipulate the invisible viral and microbial world that lies within us, beneath the earth's surface, and throughout the bodies of water that surround us.
Besides our continued sapiens-centric appetite to address human disease, health, and nutrition, there are so many opportunities to deploy CRISPR in pursuits of things that are greater and perhaps grander (whether at physical, time, or genomic scales) than we are. This is just looking at a relatively minuscule proportion of the unfathomable universe of which we are a part.