The Potential of Crispr-Cas Technology In Combating Infectious Diseases

Infectious diseases continue to pose a worldwide threat, causing excess morbidity and mortality each year, with the potential for destabilizing pandemics. Improved understanding of bacterial, viral, fungus, and parasite pathogenesis and quick identification and treatment of infections are critical for improving infectious disease outcomes globally. Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPRs) together with CRISPR-associated endonuclease (Cas) have facilitated new developments in genetic engineering. Due to its high specificity, sensitivity, and simplicity, the CRISPR-Cas system has been employed for molecular diagnosis and therapy of infectious diseases. Numerous bacteria and archaea have native CRISPR-Cas systems, which act as an adaptive immune system by degrading the genome of an invasive pathogen in a sequence-specific manner. This system has been modified for application in gene expression control, drug development, diagnostics, cancer prevention and treatment, and the management of genetic and infectious illnesses. DNA- and RNA-targeting nucleases provided by the CRISPR toolset serve as dual weapons against infectious diseases. When used for nucleic acid detection in the context of emerging infectious diseases, the CRISPR-Cas system, as a quick, accurate, and user-friendly genome editing tool, provides a quick, cost-effective, and highly sensitive diagnosis.