Criminals could alter their DNA to evade justice with new genetic editing tools
Criminals could alter their DNA to evade justice with new
genetic editing tools
By Sarah Knapton, science editor 5 MAY 2018 • 12:00PM
A revolutionary genetic editing technique designed to
repair faulty DNA could be used by criminals to evade justice, experts have
said.
The Crispr system acts like molecular scissors to snip
away damaged genes and replace them with healthy code and it is hoped it will
one day fix genetic diseases such as sickle cell anaemia, cystic fibrosis and
muscular dystrophy.
But Professor George Church, of Harvard University, who
pioneered the use of the Crispr technique, said it would be possible for
criminals to use the technique to disappear from forensic databases or evade
detection.
Crispr kits can now be bought online for around £150, and
last year former Nasa biochemist Josiah Zayner
injected himself with a genetic cocktail during a livestream to increase
his muscle mass.
Asked if Crispr could alter DNA to the extent it would
make forensic evidence unusable Professor Church told The Telegraph: “We could
do that today, easily. A lot of it is done by blood and even if you just get a
stem cell transplant you have a new identity.
“I think Crispr actually would be easier than a stem cell
transplant because (a transplant) would have to be done sterrily and you would
need to irradiate yourself to get rid of the old ones and that is not something
even Zayner would do.
“I could imagine there being an industry. My guess is
though, they would start with a bone marrow transplant to some random person. You
wouldn’t even necessarily need Crispr.”
Crispr, which stands for Clustered, Regularly
Interspaced, Short Palindromic Repeat, is expected to revolutionise healthcare
because it is a quick and cheap way to genetically edit genes.
It is based on a naturally-occurring defence mechanism
used by bacteria, which carry in their DNA strands of genetic code belonging to
deadly viruses so that they can recognise them if they come near.
When they spot a virus they release an enzyme which
attacks it, snipping away this area of code. Scientists use the system to
remove bad DNA code and replaced it with a healthy gene.
This year the first Crispr trial in Europe is expected to
get underway to cure the disease beta thalassaemia, a devastating blood
disorder which reduces the production of haemoglobin, the protein which carries
oxygen to cells.
But the therapy also has a more sinister side and has led
to biohackers like Zayner performing dangerous experiments on themselves.
The growing trend led The FDA in the US to issue a
warning against self-administration of genetic therapies, saying kits intended
for human use were against the law.
Zayner, who founded the company The Odin, which sells DIY
Crispr kits, now claims to regret his actions and recently told The Atlantic:
“There is no doubt in my mind that somebody is going to end up getting hurt.”
Dr Eleanor Graham, programme leader in Forensic Science
at Northumbria University said criminals could use Crispr to alter their DNA
but said it would require a ‘fairly extreme’ medical intervention.
“I have come across chimerism in samples I have processed
for identification purposes from leukaemia patients who have received bone
marrow transplants, so it would be possible,” she said.
“This sort of transplantation would affect circulatory
blood, not other tissue types to the same extent. I could foresee a future when
reference samples from a suspect may need to be tissue matched to the crime
scene sample for comparison purposes, if this ever became a reality.
“The medical intervention required is also fairly
extreme”
David Wilson, emeritus professor of criminology at
Birmingham City University said: “I think there is always a hare and tortoise
race between law enforcement and the offenders as criminals come up with new
ways to evade the justice systems.
“Criminals have already started in a limited way of
attempting to evade forensic techniques by planting DNA at the scene of a
crime.
“Fortunately most crimes are cleared up quite quickly,
not as a consequence of the DNA database but because there is often a
relationship between the perpetrator and the victim. So it would have to be a
specific type of clever career criminal who would be attempting this kind of
genetic technique.”
However other experts were more skeptical about the
possibility of criminals genetically editing their DNA.
Dr Alexander Gray, Principal Investigator at the Leverhulme
Research Centre for Forensic Science, University of Dundee said that genetic
editing in the livers of mice had shown the new DNA eventually takes over,
replacing the genetic code. But he said it would be harder for humans,
“If you were in the forensic database and you changed
your DNA it would be possible to avoid detection, but I think it would be
extremely difficult to achieve,” he said.
“You can manipulate the genome but to do it on the scale
where it would have a forensic effect would be tricky.
“For example if you took semen in a rape case, to have an
impact there, Crispr would need to alter the entire germ line.
“And people are shedding skin all the time, so you would
need to make a genetic change which impacted every skin cell.”
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