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Asked by woken_dreams to Vicky, Tom, Simon, Serena, Amanda on 14 Jan 2014.
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Thomas Butts answered on 14 Jan 2014:
That would very much depend upon being able to make genetic alterations to our own cells. While this is plausible in theory (we can do it to animal models in experiments), it is fraught with danger, and can often lead to unwanted effects like cancer. So, my answer would be that it is plausible (perhaps far in the future), but for the moment not a possibility in the near future. But of course, like all scientific predictions, I am quite happy to be wrong!
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Amanda Carr answered on 15 Jan 2014:
Yes, there are a number of ways that we can alter DNA and this is called genetic engineering. Currently there are a number of groups using gene therapy in clinical trials in patients. This is where you can take a gene you want to correct, put it into a virus and then infect cells with the virus. So in the same way a cold virus contains all the genes it need to integrate into the host and make other virus particles, we can engineer a virus to make a gene that’s missing in a person who is going blind. We infect the eye cell and the virus makes eye proteins, this can correct problems where patients have mutations that affect the normal function of that protein. Virus is a good way of introducing corrected proteins into cells, however this DNA could cause issues by inserting into the normal DNA so scientist are looking at other options.
There are newer technologies to edit DNA which are based around natural mechanisms in other organisms, however these are still in very early stages of development and are mostly tested in cells rather than whole organisms.
The CRISPR system is found in bacteria and is normally used to protect against viruses. The system uses an enzyme called Cas9 to cut into DNA. The cut can be targeted to a specific region, i.e. close to a mutation. So you can cut out the “bad” bit of DNA and insert a new corrected bit of DNA.
There is another system called TALENS, which again was found in bacterial cells. Again you can create enzymes that cut DNA in regions close to a mutation and insert new DNA there.
However, these technologies are mostly being aimed at treating inherited disorders and cancers, and not treating wisdom teeth. I’m afraid removal of the wisdom teeth would still be the best option.
Comments
Dave commented on :
With the example of wisdom teeth, I guess this would be quite difficult anyway. Scientists would have to identify which genes are required for growth of wisdom teeth and then turn off those genes making sure that they only turn the genes off in the growing wisdom teeth. The genes that are important for growth of wisdom teeth could be important for other functions in the body, so we’d have to get really good at turning off genes in particular places to avoid bad side-effects.