Around 300,000 people are infected with Lyme disease every year. And the problem is getting worse. But now, two new gene editing techniques could help reduce tick-borne diseases.
By injecting the gene editing complex into tick eggs, the team can make deletions in a couple different genes to alter the tick genome that is involved in harboring and transmitting pathogens.
They found that they could also target tick ovaries directly by injecting the complex into the mothers, thereby affecting the genomes of the offspring.
This is a huge breakthrough that could help curb Lyme disease, for which there is no vaccine and only semi-effective treatments.
Learn more at https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/we-can-now-use-crispr-gene-editing-on-ticks-to-fight-lyme-disease-in-humans/