2020年度诺贝尔化学奖:源自微生物学前沿研究的重大突破  

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020: The great breakthrough from frontier research in microbiology

作　　者：龚路遥 向华[1] Luyao Gong;Hua Xiang(State Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources,Institute of Microbiology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100101,China)

机构地区：[1]中国科学院微生物研究所微生物资源前期开发国家重点实验室,北京100101

出　　处：《科学通报》2020年第36期4171-4176,共6页Chinese Science Bulletin

摘　　要：2020年度诺贝尔化学奖授予法国微生物学家Emmanuelle Charpentier和美国生物化学家Jennifer A.Doudna,以表彰其研发的CRISPR-Cas9基因组编辑技术(图1).她们是诺贝尔化学奖第6和7位女性获奖者,也是迄今唯一的一对女性诺贝尔奖得主.她们合作研发的CRISPR-Cas9基因组编辑技术发表于2012年,仅用短短8年时间即获得学术界的最高荣誉,足见其影响力.The 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna for their joint development of the highly efficient CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing tools, which have taken the life sciences into a new era. The CRISPR-Cas system was first discovered in bacteria in 1987. After more than 20 years of arduous exploration of these enigmatic systems that were found in more than 90% archaea and about half bacteria, their antiviral function was finally confirmed in 2007. This has inspired more researchers to focus on the CRISPR-Cas systems, of which the general anti-virus mechanisms were also uncovered within the next few years, that the cr RNA containing the virus sequence information guides the Cas protein(s) to recognize the corresponding virus and cleave their DNA or RNA. Among those pioneers in this field, Charpentier and Doudna mainly focused on the type II CRISPR-Cas9 system, which is much simpler than the wide-spread type I systems. In 2012, Doudna and Charpentier had elucidated the fine structure of the anti-virus effector complex of the CRISPR-Cas9 system, which contains a single Cas9 protein and two RNA components(cr RNA and tracr RNA). It was this work that led to the breakthrough in developing the CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing tools. Significantly, they innovatively connected the tracr RNA and cr RNA into a single RNA chimera(sg RNA), greatly simplifying the genome editing tools to only two components, the sg RNA and the single Cas9 protein. Compared with the genome editing tools developed in the past(Meganuclease, ZFN and TALEN), CRISPR-Cas9 has significant advantages such as easy programming, high efficiency and a wide application range. These merits make CRISPR-Cas9 so far the most widely used genome editing technique. In basic research, CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing has been used to elucidate the functions of unknown genes or pathways. In application, this technique has greatly improved the efficiency of animal and plant breeding, and made it possible to cure some genetic diseases and

关 键 词：诺贝尔化学奖 生物化学家 微生物学家 前沿研究 女性诺贝尔奖得主 合作研发 

分 类 号：Q78[生物学—分子生物学]