Biomedical Letters

CRISPR-Cas9: a weapon against COVID-19

Ali Raza 1, Ghulam Khalid Mahmood 2, Taiba Asif 3, Muhammad Abrar 3, Sidra Rao 3, Saigha Marriam 3, Asma Sardar 2, Kaynat Shahid 2, Salva Tanveer 3*

1 Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Okara, Okara, Pakistan

2 Department of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Okara, Okara, Pakistan

3 Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Okara, Okara, Pakistan

Abstract

In current pandemic circumstances novel coronavirus is a salutary challenge for all over the world and coronavirus used the host cell for replication. Coronavirus usually use the host cellular products to perform their basic functions. Various specific target sites also present in coronavirus proteins for target specific therapy such as small inhibitor molecule for viral polymerase or prevent the attachment of viruses to the receptor sites for vaccination purpose. The virus attaches to ACE2 receptors and uses enzyme to cleave translated products which encodes for various enzymes like RNA polymerase, helicase etc. The system needs some processes which lead for the disturbance and make the virus unable to replicate. The recombinant DNA technology makes a great advancement in every field of life with a number of importance in agriculture, industries, and clinics. It is used to manipulate the genetic material of living organism for the purpose of producing desirable products such as disease resistant crops, treatment of cancer, genetic disease and viral disease. Thus, for the purpose of antiviral strategies, the specific technique called CRISPR/Cas9 is used, and this technique has the capability to target specific nucleotide sequence inside the genome of coronavirus.