Genetic engineering of bacteria... inside the gut
This is a big deal. A team from Eligo Bioscience were able to deliver a plasmid with a base editor that targets specific Escherichia coli genes using a phage-derived vehicle and designed to be non-replicative, to prevent maintenance and dissemination of the payload.
"Administering a single dose of a base editor targeting the β-lactamase gene in a model E. coli strain in the mouse gut resulted in 93% editing efficiency within 8 hours. The phage vector could be adapted to different natural pathogenic isolates, achieving efficient delivery to two additional E. coli strains and one Klebsiella pneumoniae strain. The system also successfully edited the csgA gene, which is implicated in neurodegenerative and autoimmune diseases, in a pathogenic E. coli strain in the mouse gut, with around 70% efficiency maintained for at least three weeks." (link)
Genetic editing in situ opens up a lot of possibilities. As the authors state, "Our work demonstrates the feasibility of modifying bacteria directly in the gut, offering a new avenue to investigate the function of bacterial genes and opening the door to the design of new microbiome-targeted therapies."