[Research progress in the third-generation genomic editing technology - CRISPR/Cas9].

CRISPR/Cas9 technology originated from type II CRISPR/Cas system, which is widely found in bacteria and equips them with acquired immunity against viruses and plasmids. CRISPR-associated protein Cas9 is a RNA-guided endonuclease, which can efficiently introduce double-strand breaks at specific sites and activate homologous recombination and/or non-homologous end joining mechanism for the repair of impaired DNA. Features such as easy-to-use, cost-effectiveness, multiple targeting ability have made it the third-generation genomic engineering tool following ZFNs and TALENs. Here the history of discovery and molecular mechanism of the CRISPR/Cas9 technology are reviewed. The rapid advance in its various applications, especially for the treatment of human genetic disorders, as well as some concomitant problems are discussed.