Scientists Find an Ancient Predecessor of CRISPR Hiding in Viruses

Scientists find an ancient predecessor of CRISPR hiding in viruses

A virus-built molecular weapon targets DNA with a strange gapped code and may reveal how bacteria acquired the foundations of CRISPR immunity.

Scientists have discovered a powerful gene-targeting system in viruses: Billions of years old, VIPR seems to predate CRISPR and may be even more effective

Carl Zimmer at the New York Times: Jennifer Doudna, a biochemist at the University of California, Berkeley, who shared the Nobel Prize in 2020 for harnessing the power of CRISPR. Over the past decade, the gene-editing technology known as CRISPR has become a familiar scientific tool, used to create lifesaving cures, make more productive crops, and even engineer allergy-free dogs. But scientists didn’t invent CRISPR from scratch. They discovered i…