Scientist about antibiotics, cloning and GMO foods.
Professor of the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology and the Rutgers University of the USA, microbiologist Konstantin Severinov spoke in an interview about genome editing technology, the impact of GMO products on human health, as well as ethical issues related to genetic engineering and human cloning. In addition, the scientist touched upon the problem of uncontrolled use of antibiotics and bacteria resistance to them.
Konstantin Viktorovich, at the beginning of 2019, Chinese scientists confirmed that there are so-called designer children. Thanks to the CRISPR / Cas genome editing technology, twins were born, who were artificially resistant to HIV. Is this a genetic revolution?
- Five years ago, the animal's genome was changed using the CRISPR / Cas technology. Therefore, in this case we are not talking about a technological, but rather about an ethical and philosophical breakthrough. Although the ethical issues of editing the human genome have not yet been resolved.
On March 13, the journal Nature published a memorandum in which several leading US scientists called for a moratorium on the use of genetic editing of viable human embryos for the birth of CRISPR humans. A similar situation was in the mid-1970s, when a group of scientists first applied the in vitro fertilization method. At that time, many initially believed that children would be born defective.
Konstantin Severinov / Wikimedia commons / Brattarb.
What is the essence of the CRISPR / Cas molecular scissors technology?
- Its main idea is that gene editors allow you to programmatically cut DNA at specific places in the genome. Then the "eaten" zone can be healed according to a certain matrix. If there was a mutation in this place in the DNA, then it can be corrected. By performing this procedure on eggs, you will change all the genetic information of the body.
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Will this technology be used in the future for "cosmetic" purposes?
- Not. For example, eye and skin color is the result of the cumulative action of many genes. Although genetic editors allow you to target specific DNA sequences, it is almost impossible to tell which one is responsible for a particular trait. Medical genetics have identified with great accuracy the changes that are responsible for the mutation leading to a particular disease, such as hemophilia. And beauty is not a disease. As the English say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
As far as I understand, there are no technological problems in order to clone a person. Are there only ethical questions left?
- More than 20 years ago, scientists cloned Dolly the sheep. Humans are mammals too. In terms of the procedures required for cloning, there is not much difference between a sheep, a pig, or a human. However, it is completely incomprehensible why you need to clone people. If you have a dairy cow that produces a lot of milk then it is probably wise to make copies of it. As a result, you will get genetically identical individuals that will have certain "trademark" characteristics. However, any person, unlike the cow or Dolly the sheep, is a person. Our qualities depend on history, upbringing and are not fully determined by genes.
Dolly the Sheep Reuters / Jeff J Mitchell.
In the common view, a clone is an absolute copy of a person. Is it so?
- Identical twins are clones of each other. But the parents of the twins will tell you that they have different children. They do not have a common destiny. They choose different professions. Twins differ from each other as individuals more than you and I, although we are not clones.
What are the main problems of human cloning?
- As a result of such an experiment, living people will appear and a number of ethical and social questions will arise. You need to understand whether it's worth doing this at all and for what. Cloning people to extend your own life is pointless, because your copy will not be you, but a different person. If you want to create a clone to take advantage of immunological compatibility and take it apart, then there is an ethical problem. This copy is a person who may have his own point of view about the fact that you want to remove the liver from her.
Perhaps the clone itself wants to remove your liver …
- Yes. That's how you agree with him.
Let's turn now to the topic of genetic engineering. Is there a potential hazard in GMO foods?
- Genetically modified organisms do not pose a threat. We consume food that contains DNA. Most of animals and plants have been altered at the genetic level as a result of thousands of years of human activity.
Gettyimages.ru / Stanislaw Pytel.
Now there is an opinion that in the near future antibiotics will stop working. Is it so?
“We have only been using antibiotics extensively for the past 70 years. Without them, humanity has been developing for over 100 thousand years. However, the widespread use of antibiotics led to the fact that bacteria gradually acquired resistance to them. A typical Darwinian selection has taken place. Those bacteria that were sensitive to antibiotics died. Those that acquired gene resistance survived. Thus, we actually took them out, in particular in hospitals. The situation is alarming, because many antibiotics are no longer working. There are cases when a person, entering the hospital with a bacterial infection, is immune to the action of antibiotics and may die.
Is it related to the uncontrolled use of these substances?
- Yes. In the 1950-1970s, antibiotic-resistant microflora developed in humans.
People believe that bacteria are the absolute enemy of man. Is it so?
- Bacteria have existed on Earth for billions of years - significantly longer than you and I. Their number is outrageous. When we disappear from the surface of the Earth, they will continue to exist.
When a baby is in the womb, it is sterile. But during the passage through the birth canal, microbes colonize its oral cavity and intestines. This is necessary for the normal development of digestion and immunity. Microbes shape us to a great extent.
Recently, a complete decoding of the genome has become popular to determine the propensity to certain diseases
- Now the predisposition to very serious diseases is detected without genetics. For example, you find out that you have hemophilia even before full genomic sequencing. We are all very different. This diversity is largely due to the difference in genetic material. The amount of these differences is enormous. It is assumed that genetic tests should look for certain matches based on the analysis of a large volume of genomes and reveal a person's tendency to certain diseases. But we are talking here about statistics, so this kind of data for individuals actually means nothing.