The CRISPR system itself was borrowed by scientists from nature. It's a type of adaptive immunity in bacteria that helps them defend themselves against viruses (bacteriophages). When a virus attacks a bacterium, it stores fragments of its DNA in its chromosome as specific repeats. When attacked again, the bacterium synthesizes an RNA molecule that precisely targets the viral DNA using the stored template, and the Cas9 enzyme protein carefully cuts the virus's genetic code, neutralizing the threat. Scientists realized that, instead of a viral template, any target sequence can be inserted into the system by directing the "scissors" to a precisely defined location in the genome of any organism.
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