Potential DNA damage from CRISPR has been ‘seriously underestimated’ study finds
Note that this study covers 'on-target' effects.As often covered in the news, CRISPR-mediated gene editing can be used to edit a DNA sequence to another, desired sequence. In these applications, it's very important that no other mutations besides the desired mutation are introduced. Such additional mutations would be 'off-target' mutations.In a second kind of experimental approach, researchers can use CRISPR technology to make arbitrary mutations at a desired site in the genome. This approach cares less about the resulting damage; the goal is simply to destroy the existing gene.The referenced article[1] seems to characterize the types of mutations that arise when people use CRISPR to ablate a gene (i.e., the second approach). It would be interesting to see if the range of DNA damage is restricted when CRISPR is instead used to change the sequence of a targeted DNA segment into another, desired sequence.[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/Nbt.4192