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Scientists edit the genes of gut bacteria in living mice
A ‘base editor’ successfully modified a gene in more than 90% of Escherichia coli bacteria without unwanted side effects.
To address these hurdles, the team engineered a delivery vehicle using components of a bacteriophage — a virus that infects bacteria — to home in on several E. coli receptors that are expressed in the gut environment. The team delivered the base editor into mice and used it to change A to G in the E. coli gene that produces β-lactamases — enzymes that drive bacterial resistance to several types of antibiotic. This base-editing system represents a “critical leap forward” in developing tools that can modify bacteria directly inside the gut, says Chase Beisel, a chemical engineer at the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research in Würzburg, Germany.
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