In the never-ending quest to discover previously unknown CRISPR gene-editing systems, researchers have scoured microbes in everything from hot springs and peat bogs, to poo and even yogurt. Now, thanks to advances in generative artificial intelligence (AI), they might be able to design these systems with the push of a button. This week, researchers published details of how they used a generative AI tool called a protein language model ' a neural network trained on millions of protein sequences ' to design CRISPR gene-editing proteins, and were then able to show that some of these systems work as expected in the laboratory1. And in February, another team announced that it had developed a model trained on microbial genomes, and used it to design fresh CRISPR systems, which are comprised of a DNA or RNA-cutting enzyme and RNA molecules that direct the molecular scissors as to where to cut2. 'It's really just scratching the surface. It's showing that it's possible to design these...
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