Researchers developed a way to use the gene-editing tool CRISPR to better understand pathogenic bacteria and their weaknesses, according to a study published in Nature Microbiology.
Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of California, San Diego collaborated on the study. They created a different form of CRISPR — called Mobile-CRISPRi — that sits on DNA instead of cutting it in two.
The method allows researchers to better assess how specific antibiotics target bacterial genes to inhibit pathogen growth.
"What that means is that you can now do studies on how antibiotics work directly in these pathogens," study author Jason Peters, PhD, a professor of pharmaceutical sciences at UW Madison, said in a press release. "That could give us a better clue about how these drugs work in the different organisms and potentially what we can do to make them better."