As opposed to DNA gene editing techniques (e.g., using CRISPR-Cas proteins to make modifications directly to a defective gene), LEAPER targets editing messenger RNA (mRNA) for the same gene which is transcribed into a protein. Post-transcriptional RNA modification typically involves the strategy of converting adenosine-to-inosine (A-to-I) since inosine (I) demonstrably mimics guanosine (G) during translation into a protein. A-to-I editing is catalyzed by adenosine deaminase acting on RNA (ADAR) enzymes, whose substrates are double-stranded RNAs. Three human ADAR genes have been identified with ADAR1 (official symbol ADAR) and ADAR2 (ADARB1) proteins developed activity profiles. LEAPER achieves this targeted RNA editing through the use of short engineered ADAR-recruiting RNAs ().  consist of endogenous ADAR1 proteins with several RNA binding domains (RBDs) fused with a peptide, CRISPR-Cas13b protein, and a guide RNA (gRNA) between 100 and 150 nt in length for high editing efficiency designed to recruit the chimeric ADAR protein to a target site.
This results in a change in which protein is synthesized during translation.