HUMAN HEALTH: Duchenne dystrophy

The Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a genetic disease and its symptoms have appeared in little boys since the early infancy. The disease is caused by a damage in the dystrophin gene that impairs the protein production. Dystrophin is a very large protein chain and it is important for the structure stability of muscle fibers. Scientists have shown that it is possible to modify a portion of the dystrophin gene in order to block the disease and limit its devastating effects. This result has been obtained by using a new technology called CRISPR-CAS9, a genome editing procedure which allows to cut and eliminate DNA sequences with high precision.

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