CRISPR Atlas
Technologies
Every way scientists currently change, silence or rewrite genetic material — how each one works, what it can and cannot do.
17 technologies in the Atlas. Compared on the things that actually differ between them. Each page opens with a simple explanation, then a technical one.
17 दिखाए गए
CRISPR-Cas9
A protein that can be programmed with a short RNA guide to find one specific sequence in a genome and cut it.
- Cuts both strands
- Yes
- What it changes
- DNA, both strands
- Precision
- Clinical maturity
Base Editing
Chemically converts one DNA letter into another at a chosen position, without cutting both strands of the double…
- Cuts both strands
- No
- What it changes
- DNA, single bases
- Precision
- Clinical maturity
Prime Editing
Writes a new stretch of DNA sequence directly into a chosen site, using a guide that carries the replacement text…
- Cuts both strands
- No
- What it changes
- DNA, short sequences
- Precision
- Clinical maturity
CRISPR-Cas12
A family of CRISPR nucleases that cut DNA leaving staggered ends, use a different sequence requirement from Cas9, and…
- Cuts both strands
- Yes
- What it changes
- DNA, both strands
- Precision
- Clinical maturity
CRISPR-Cas13
Targets RNA rather than DNA, so it can silence a gene's message without touching the genome itself.
- Cuts both strands
- No DNA cutting at all
- What it changes
- RNA
- Precision
- Clinical maturity
Cas14 and miniature Cas systems
Unusually small CRISPR nucleases — roughly a third the size of Cas9 — discovered in archaea and bacteriophages.
- Cuts both strands
- Yes
- What it changes
- DNA
- Precision
- Clinical maturity
RNA Editing
Changes letters in the RNA message rather than in the DNA, so the effect is real but temporary and the genome is…
- Cuts both strands
- No
- What it changes
- RNA, single bases
- Precision
- Clinical maturity
Epigenetic Editing
Changes how loudly a gene is expressed by rewriting the chemical marks on and around it, without altering a single…
- Cuts both strands
- No
- What it changes
- Chemical marks on DNA and histones — no sequence change
- Precision
- Clinical maturity
CRISPRa (gene activation)
Uses a disabled CRISPR protein to switch a gene up rather than to cut it.
- Cuts both strands
- No
- What it changes
- Expression level only
- Precision
- Clinical maturity
CRISPRi (gene silencing)
Parks a disabled CRISPR protein on a gene to block it from being read, turning it down without changing it.
- Cuts both strands
- No
- What it changes
- Expression level only
- Precision
- Clinical maturity
TALENs
Custom-built proteins that recognise DNA letter by letter and cut — the technique CRISPR largely displaced, still in…
- Cuts both strands
- Yes
- What it changes
- DNA, both strands
- Precision
- Clinical maturity
Zinc Finger Nucleases
The first programmable gene-editing tool to reach patients — small, engineered proteins that grip DNA in three-letter…
- Cuts both strands
- Yes
- What it changes
- DNA, both strands
- Precision
- Clinical maturity
Recombinases and integrases
Enzymes that cut and rejoin DNA at defined sites, able to insert whole genes rather than edit single letters.
- Cuts both strands
- No free double-strand break
- What it changes
- DNA, large segments
- Precision
- Clinical maturity
Transposases
Enzymes that cut a segment of DNA out of one place and paste it into another — nature's own copy-and-paste.
- Cuts both strands
- Cuts and rejoins as part of transposition
- What it changes
- DNA, large segments
- Precision
- Clinical maturity
Gene Therapy (gene addition)
Delivers a working copy of a gene into cells without changing the existing genome — the older approach that gene…
- Cuts both strands
- No
- What it changes
- Nothing — a copy is added
- Precision
- Clinical maturity
RNA Interference
Uses the cell's own machinery to destroy a specific RNA message, lowering a protein's level without touching DNA.
- Cuts both strands
- No
- What it changes
- RNA — destroyed, not edited
- Precision
- Clinical maturity
Synthetic Biology
Designing genetic parts and circuits so that cells perform new functions — the engineering discipline that gene…
- Cuts both strands
- Varies
- What it changes
- Whole circuits and constructs
- Precision
- Clinical maturity
Precision and maturity are editorial 1–5 ratings by The CRISPR Atlas, not measured quantities — they exist to make the trade-offs comparable at a glance. Each technology page explains the reasoning. Use the comparison tool to put any two side by side.