• Targeting Antimicrobial resistance by CRISPR/CAS based approach
  • Nasim bakhtiyari,1 safar farajnia,2,*
    1. Drug Applied Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
    2. Biotechnology Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences Tabriz, Iran


  • Introduction: Introduction: Effective antimicrobial resistance can result from mutations in specific types of genes, including those encoding drug targets, drug transporters, drug transporter regulators, and antibiotic-modifying enzymes. Consequently, these acquired resistance contribute to the development of antimicrobial resistance in bacteria. Various strategies are used to overcome these problem, among them, CRISPR/cas9 based techniques are novel, accurate and rapid methods. Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) gene-editing technology is the ideal tool of the future for treating diseases by permanently correcting deleterious base mutations or disrupting resistance-causing genes with great precision and efficiency.
  • Methods: We analyzed results from individual studies conducted from 2018 to 2024 using the search terms" (CRISPR) gene-editing technology " ," infection disease" and "Antimicrobial resistance" in major medical databases.
  • Results: Here, we conducted an integrated and comprehensive study of medical and biotechnological databases for application of genetic manipulation methods to overcome antimicrobial resistance. The results indicated that a variety of strategies have been developed in order to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria, including the development of new antibiotics, bacteriophages that lyse and target these bacteria, antimicrobial peptides. Crispr/cas based methods are a newly emerged strategy that have been tried in several bacteria including pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pnemonia and staphylococcus aurous with great success.
  • Conclusion: In recent years, the CRISPR/Cas technique, derived from the bacterial immune system, has emerged as a promising tool for gene modification. This technology offers high efficiency, speed, and simplicity, and it is anticipated to revolutionize genome modification projects in the near future. In the CRISPR/Cas approach, the target DNA is introduced to the Cas9 enzyme through gene-specific single-guide RNAs (sgRNAs) thet resulted in the disruption and deactivation of the targeted gene. This breakthrough has opened new possibilities for combating antimicrobial resistance. Studies have shown that CRISPR/Cas technology can be employed to target and disrupt resistant genes within the bacterial DNA, potentially restoring the susceptible phenotype in resistant bacteria.
  • Keywords: Infection disease; Antimicrobial resistance; CRISPR/Cas system