Desperate Scientists To Use Gene-Editing To Save Dying Corals

The death of coral reefs is an alarming sign of the increasingly hostile environment that is planet Earth. When these natural marine life habitats go, the wildlife follows, which causes a catastrophic chain of events that eventually lead to food shortage. With no concrete solution in sight and no willingness to act from leaders, desperate scientists are now thinking of turning to gene-editing for salvation.

For the most part, coverage of CRISPR has mellowed down, but it is still expected to play a major role in shaping the future of numerous fields of science. With regards to the matter of the coral reefs, it would seem that a collaborative effort from researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine and others is intended to create corals that will be tougher than normal ones, Phys.org reports.

The goal is basically to edit the genes of corals to halt the progress of the coral bleaching that is currently happening all over the world, which is putting entire marine ecosystems on the brink of collapse. CRISPR is going to play a major role in the endeavor since, as geneticist Phillip Cleves notes via press release, this is the first time that editing the genes of corals is actually possible.

"Up until now, there hasn't been a way to ask whether a gene whose expression correlates with coral survival actually plays a causative role," Cleves said. "There's been no method to modify genes in coral and then ask what the consequences are."

As Popular Mechanics notes, one of the biggest problems that compound on the rapid death of the coral population is how slow their reproduction process is. Basically, corals only reproduce once or twice a year, which is disastrous due to the rapid rate of bleaching.

What the scientists are currently trying to do is speed up the process by manipulating the parts of the corals’ genes that dictate when they reproduce. Unfortunately, this is proving quite difficult, which is why they need more help to achieve their goals.