Purloined Mechanisms of Bacterial Immunity Can Cure Muscular Dystrophy

Myriad strategies have been explored to compensate for the lack of dystrophin or to skip mutations that cause the lethal disease Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). A new study shows that gene editing strategies used by bacteria can be applied in zygotes of a mouse model of DMD to correct the genetic defect that causes muscular dystrophy (Long et al., 2014). Myriad strategies have been explored to compensate for the lack of dystrophin or to skip mutations that cause the lethal disease Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). A new study shows that gene editing strategies used by bacteria can be applied in zygotes of a mouse model of DMD to correct the genetic defect that causes muscular dystrophy (Long et al.).