Researchers unveiled retron‑based gene‑editing platforms that use bacterial reverse transcriptases to synthesize donor single‑stranded DNA intracellularly, enabling precise insertion and editing across longer DNA stretches. The discovery was reported in Nature Biotechnology and complementary press coverage highlighted a metagenomic screen that identified retron reverse transcriptases amenable to engineering for mammalian genomes. The papers describe identification, characterization and engineering of retron elements to enhance editing efficiency and specificity, offering an alternative to traditional homology‑directed repair and base editing approaches. Retrons can generate multicopy single‑stranded DNA templates in situ, which simplifies delivery logistics for complex edits and could expand therapeutic options for diseases driven by heterogeneous or multiple mutations. The field now faces translational hurdles: improving activity in human cells, assessing off‑target integration risk and scaling delivery. Still, retron‑derived editors add a potentially transformative tool to the genome‑editing toolbox and may enable correction of multi‑mutation disorders that challenge current technologies.