- Konstantin Viktorovich, in 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 had artificially created resistance to HIV. Is this a genetic revolution?

- Five years ago, the genome of the animal was changed using CRISPR / Cas technology. Therefore, in this case it is not a technological, but rather an ethical and philosophical breakthrough. Although ethical issues of editing the human genome has not yet been resolved.

On March 13, a memorandum was published in the journal Nature in which a number of leading US scientists proposed to impose a moratorium on the use of genetic editing of viable human embryos for the birth of CRISPR people. A similar situation was in the mid-1970s, when a group of scientists first applied the method of in vitro fertilization. Then, at first, many believed that children would be born inferior.

  • Konstantin Severinov
  • © Wikimedia commons / Brattarb

- What is the essence of CRISPR / Cas molecular scissors technology ?

- Its main idea is that gene editors allow programmable cutting of DNA in specific places of the genome. Then the “vented” zone can be healed according to a certain matrix. If there was a mutation in the DNA, it can be fixed. Having this procedure on the eggs, you change all the genetic information of the body.

- Will this technology be used for cosmetic purposes in the future?

- Not. For example, the color of eyes and skin is the result of the combined action of a large number of genes. Although genetic editors allow you to directionally change certain DNA sequences, it is almost impossible to say which one is responsible for a particular trait. Medical genetics with great accuracy identified the changes that are responsible for the mutation leading to a particular disease, for example, 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?

- More than 20 years ago, scientists cloned Dolly the sheep. People are also mammals. From the point of view of the procedures necessary for cloning, there is not much difference between a sheep, a pig or a man. However, it is completely incomprehensible why people should be cloned. If you have a cash cow that produces a lot of milk, then it’s probably wise to make copies of it. As a result, you will receive genetically identical individuals that will have certain “trademark” traits. However, any person, unlike a cow or sheep Dolly, 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 philistine representation of the clone - is an absolute copy of the 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 share a common destiny. They choose different professions. Twins differ from each other as individuals more than you and me, although we are not clones.

- What are the main problems of human cloning?

- As a result of this experiment, live people will appear and a number of ethical and social issues will arise. It is necessary to understand whether to do it at all and for what. Cloning people to extend their own lives is pointless, because your copy will not be you, but another person. If you want to create a clone to use immunological compatibility and disassemble it, an ethical problem will arise. This copy is a person who may have his or her point of view that you want to take the liver from her.

“Perhaps the clone itself will want to take your liver away ...”

- Yes. This is how you agree with him.

- Let's turn now to the topic of genetic engineering. Is there a potential danger of GMO products?

- Genetically modified organisms do not pose a threat. We consume food that contains DNA. Most animals and plants have been modified at the gene level as a result of thousands of years of human activity.

In the past, breeders did not know that they work with changes in genetic material, but in fact this is exactly what happened. The creation of GMOs with the help of modern technologies is the same selection, but it happens faster. GMO products are no more dangerous than others, provided that all toxicological studies have been carried out and the absence of poisons has been detected.

  • Gettyimages.ru
  • © Stanislaw Pytel

- Now there is an opinion that in the near future antibiotics will cease to act. Is it so?

- We have been using antibiotics only for the past 70 years. Without them, humanity has evolved over more than 100 thousand years. However, the widespread use of antibiotics has led to the fact that the bacteria gradually acquired resistance to them. There was a typical Darwinian selection. Those bacteria that were sensitive to antibiotics died. Those who acquired gene resistance survived. Thus, we actually removed them, in particular, in hospitals. The situation is alarming, because many antibiotics no longer work. There are cases when a person, entering a hospital with a bacterial infection, is immune to the action of antibiotics and may die.

- This is due to the uncontrolled use of these substances?

- Yes. In the 1950–1970s, people developed microflora resistant to antibiotics.

- People believe that bacteria are the absolute enemy of man. Is it so?

- Bacteria exist on Earth for billions of years - much longer than you and me. Their amount is beyond. When we disappear from the surface of the Earth, they will continue to exist.

We are largely the "bag" in which bacteria sit.

When the baby is in the womb, it is sterile. But during the passage through the birth canal, the microbes of his mouth and intestines colonize. It is necessary for the normal development of digestion and immunity. Microbes are pretty much shaping us.

- Recently, the complete decoding of the genome has become popular to determine the propensity for certain diseases.

- Now the predisposition to very serious diseases is detected without genetics. For example, you will learn that you have hemophilia, even before complete genomic sequencing. We are all very different. To a large extent, this diversity is due to the difference in genetic material. The number of these differences is huge. It is assumed that genetic tests should look for certain correspondences on the basis of the analysis of a large volume of genomes and reveal the tendency of a person to certain diseases. But here we are talking about statistics, so this kind of data for individual people actually means nothing.

Watch the full interview at RTD.