Scientists have identified a gene-editing system found in viruses that may represent the evolutionary precursor to the well-known CRISPR technology. This newly characterized system, known as VIPR, is believed to be over four billion years old and may offer capabilities that surpass those of CRISPR, a gene-editing tool widely used in medicine, agriculture, and biotechnology.

CRISPR, which stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, was discovered in bacteria and other microbes, where it functions as a defense mechanism against invading viruses. By targeting and cutting viral DNA, CRISPR effectively disables these threats. Since its discovery in the 1990s, CRISPR has become a cornerstone technology for precision gene editing. However, researchers have long been interested in understanding the origins and evolution of this biological system.

The recent research, published in the journal Science, reveals that VIPR, a system carried by viruses themselves, shares structural similarities with CRISPR but possesses distinct features that could expand gene-editing applications. For example, VIPR molecules are smaller in size, which could facilitate more efficient delivery into cells, and they appear capable of targeting a broader range of genetic sequences.

Jennifer Doudna, a biochemist at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Nobel laureate recognized for her role in developing CRISPR technology, was a co-author of the study. She noted that understanding the ancestral functions of these systems could illuminate how gene editing evolved naturally. “It had to come from somewhere,” she said, suggesting that the mechanisms underlying modern gene editing may have originally served different purposes.

The discovery originated in part from efforts led by Peter Yoon, a former graduate student working under Dr. Doudna, who explored the molecular shapes encoded by genes rather than the genetic sequences alone. Since protein structure tends to be conserved over vast evolutionary timescales even when genetic sequences mutate, examining protein forms allowed researchers to identify hundreds of molecules resembling CRISPR proteins yet located outside known microbial gene-editing systems.

Philip Kranzusch, a microbiologist at Harvard University who was not involved in the study, called VIPR’s compact size “transformative” for genome engineering, highlighting its potential as a new tool. The research adds to growing evidence that gene-editing mechanisms have deep evolutionary roots reaching back to the earliest forms of life.

While CRISPR research continues to expand, the identification of VIPR strengthens understanding of natural genome defense strategies and may pave the way for advanced gene-editing technologies with broader targeting abilities and improved delivery methods. Scientists are now poised to explore how VIPR functions and whether it can be adapted for practical applications similar to, or beyond, those of CRISPR.