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DNA-editing ‘pencils’ probe early human development

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A genome-rewriting approach known as adenine base editing offers a precise way to investigate gene function in early human embryos.

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  1. Sherif Khodeer

    1. Sherif Khodeer is in the Department of Development and Regeneration, KU Leuven, and at the KU Leuven Institute for Single Cell Omics (LISCO), Leuven 3000, Belgium.

  2. Vincent Pasque

    1. Vincent Pasque is in the Department of Development and Regeneration, KU Leuven, and at the KU Leuven Institute for Single Cell Omics (LISCO), Leuven 3000, Belgium.

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

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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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