CRISPR is a technology of:

Correct answer: (a) Gene editing

Explanation

CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) is a technology of gene editing. It was first found as a defence system in bacteria, which store pieces of viral DNA and use them to recognise and cut the same virus later.

In the lab, a guide RNA leads the enzyme Cas9 to a chosen DNA sequence, where Cas9 cuts it like "molecular scissors". The gene can then be switched off, corrected or replaced. Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna received the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing it.