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Genetics & Biotechnology vocabulary · Genetic Engineering and CRISPR

Off-target effect

Meaning in genetics & biotechnology, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In genetics & biotechnology, off-target effect means: An unwanted change at a place in the genome that was not intended, for example when a CRISPR guide RNA also cuts a similar sequence somewhere else.

In Turkish: hedef dışı etki

How it is used

Used in gene editing, RNA interference and drug development. Researchers predict off-target sites with software, check them by sequencing and reduce them with better guides or high-fidelity enzymes. Regulators ask for off-target analysis before gene editing therapies reach patients.

Example sentences

  1. We sequenced the top ten predicted sites and found no off-target effects.

  2. Off-target effects are one of the main safety concerns for CRISPR therapies.

Common collocations

  • minimize off-target effects
  • off-target sites
  • off-target analysis
  • off-target cutting
  • CRISPRA gene-editing technology, adapted from a bacterial defense system, in which a guide RNA leads an enzyme such as Cas9 to a chosen DNA sequence so that it can be cut and changed.
  • guide RNAA short RNA molecule that leads a CRISPR enzyme such as Cas9 to the exact DNA sequence to be cut, by matching about 20 bases of the target.
  • gene editingMaking precise, targeted changes to the DNA of a living cell or organism, such as cutting out, correcting or inserting a sequence at a chosen position.
  • germline editingChanging the DNA of eggs, sperm or early embryos, so that the change would be present in every cell of the resulting person and could be passed to future generations.

More terms: Genetic Engineering and CRISPR

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