4. Genome editing: a revolution in biotechnology

Genome editing is the precise and controlled modification of an organism's genetic heritage, and as such represents a fundamental break with conventional engineering techniques. This has been made possible by the development of molecular scissors capable of recognizing a target sequence and inducing a double-strand break that will be repaired by endogenous double-strand break repair mechanisms (Non homologous end joining (NHEJ) or Homologous Recombination (HR)), resulting in the introduction of mutations, insertion or replacement of a sequence (figure...