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DNA-editing ‘pencils’ probe early human development

2026-09-09 | original
read original get Walter Isaacson's "The Code Breaker → more articles
Why This Matters

Two Nature papers report using base editing "pencils" \u2014 a precision tool that swaps single DNA letters rather than cutting the genome \u2014 in human embryos to study how a key gene shapes the earliest stages of development. The results offer cleaner insight into early human biology than blunt gene-knockout methods, but because the work is done in embryos it revives contentious debates about heritable human genome editing.

Key Takeaways
Worth a Look

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Writing in Nature, Bower et al.1 and Jerabek et al.2 describe how they have used a precision genome-editing tool, known as base editing, in human embryos to reveal how a key gene contributes to early development, and how embryos respond to specific DNA changes. The work sharpens scientists’ view of this developmental stage while inevitably reactivating debates about heritable DNA editing.

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-02840-7

References Bower, O. J. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10792-1 (2026). Jerabek, S. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-11118-x (2026). Porto, E. M., Komor, A. C., Slaymaker, I. M. & Yeo, G. W. Nature Rev. Drug Discov. 19, 839–859 (2020). Rees, H. A. & Liu, D. R. Nature Rev. Genet. 19, 770–788 (2018). Gaudelli, N. M. et al. Nature 551, 464–471 (2017). Dadush, A. et al. npj Genom. Med. 9, 16 (2024). Alanis-Lobato, G. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 118, e2004832117 (2021). Richter, M. F. et al. Nature Biotechnol. 38, 883–891 (2020). Allègre, N. et al. Nature Commun. 13, 3550 (2022). Mitsui, K. et al. Cell 113, 631–642 (2003). Chambers, I. et al. Cell 113, 643–655 (2003). Musunuru, K. et al. Nature 593, 429–434 (2021). Wu, L. et al. Genome Biol. 25, 291 (2024). Greely, H. T. J. Law Biosci. 6, 111–183 (2019). Wang, H. & Yang, H. PLoS Biol. 17, e3000224 (2019). The Royal Society, National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine & International Commission on the Clinical Use of Human Germline Genome Editing. Heritable Human Genome Editing (National Academies Press, 2020). Download references

Competing Interests V.P. is one of the inventors on a patent application (PCT/EP2023/073949) filed by KU Leuven, Belgium, describing the protocols for inducing extra-embryonic mesoderm cells using naive human pluripotent stem cells. S.K. and V.P. are preparing a manuscript for publication with one of the authors of the paper discussed in the News & Views (Kathy Niakan), and V.P. is co-author on a separate multi-author opinion piece on embryo models; both are on different research topics from that mentioned in the article.

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Explore topics: base editing genome editing human embryos nature heritable dna editing
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