Crispr-Cas9 Applications in Antimicrobials

Application of CRISPR-Cas9
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Application of CRISPR-Cas9
Introduction
Antimicrobial is any substance that prevents the development and spread of pathogens without causing any harm or side effect to the host (Greene, 2018). It is a substance that is mainly aimed to inhibit the growth of bacterial and thus killing them. Antifungal and antibiotics are among the numerous types of antimicrobial. Bacterial infection has been prevalent in the world, and the cure has not be established (Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (US), 2013). The paper discusses the importance of CRISPR-Cas9 technology in solving bacterial infections.
Why is the Technique Important?
CRISPR-Cas9 technology would play a vital role in curbing the spread of the infection. It will enable gene engineering and establishment of sequence-specific antimicrobials. The technique is crucial in innovating antimicrobial that inhibits the development of bacterial regardless the resistance. CRISPR-Cas9 is a technology that involves extensive gene screening to identify the complexity of the biological process and thus modify the antimicrobial substances and thus intensifying the fight against bacteria causing infections (Guitart et al., 2016).
What research is being performed in this areas and why?
Bacterial and pathogens resistance to available antimicrobial is a continued worldwide health problem (Greene, 2018). Resistance to antimicrobial arises due to continuous use of antibiotics, and thus the bacteria adapt to them.

The rapid change of antimicrobial resistance has been the trigger for researchers to discover and innovate new substance to curb the spread of the infection (House, 2014). The introduction of CRISPR-Cas9 technology aims to control antimicrobial resistance and hence it employs strategies to come up with unique and single antimicrobial substance (Bikard et al., 2014). The researchers developing the technology have a primary goal to come up with antimicrobials targeting specific pathogens in a DNA specific manner and stay ahead of any developing resistance from bacterial causing infections (Guitart et al., 2016). The research will facilitate developing of antimicrobials that kills drug-resistance pathogens through targeting specific genes involved in medicine resistance.
References
Bikard, D., Euler, C. W., Jiang, W., Nussenzweig, P. M., Goldberg, G. W., Duportet, X., … & Marraffini, L. A. (2014). Exploiting CRISPR-Cas nucleases to produce sequence-specific antimicrobials. Nature Biotechnology, 32(11), 1146.
Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (US). (2013). Antibiotic resistance threats in the United States, 2013. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, US Department of Health and Human Services.
Greene, A. C. (2018). CRISPR-based antibacterials: Transforming bacterial defence into offence. Trends in Biotechnology, 36(2), 127-130.
Guitart, J. R., Johnson, J. L., & Chien, W. W. (2016). Research techniques made simple: The application of CRISPR-Cas9 and genome editing in investigative dermatology. Journal of Investigative Dermatology, 136(9), e87-e93.
House, W. (2014). National strategy for combating antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The White House, Washington, DC. https://www. white house. gov/sites/default/files/docs/carb_national_strategy. Pdf.