新一代基因组编辑系统CRISPR/Cpf1

CRISPR/Cas系统几乎存在于所有的细菌和古菌中,是用来抵御外来病毒和噬菌体入侵的获得性免疫防御机制。2012年起CRISPR/Cas9被改造为基因编辑工具,并衍生出一系列高效、便捷的基因编辑工具,迅速在基础理论、基因诊断和临床治疗等研究领域中得到广泛应用。然而,CRISPR/Cas9也存在细胞毒性、脱靶效应和基因插入困难等一些亟待解决的问题,在一定程度上限制了CRISPR/Cas9的应用。Cpf1是2015年报道的一种新型CRISPR效应蛋白,具有许多与Cas9不同的特性,有利于克服CRISPR/Cas9应用中的一些限制。本文综述了近两年来对CRISPR/Cpf1的研究进展和应用,并对其应用前景和发展方向进行了展望。     

基于CRISPR/Cas系统的噬菌体基因组编辑

对原核生物获得性免疫系统CRISPR/Cas (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR- associated genes)的研究促进了新一代基因组编辑工具的产生和发展。噬菌体既是原核生物CRISPR阵列(CRISPR array)进化的原动力,又是CRISPR/Cas系统防御的对象。噬菌体功能基因组学研究的速率却落后于发现新噬菌体和测定基因组序列的速率。基于CRISPR/Cas系统的噬菌体基因组编辑,可为噬菌体功能基因组学研究提供新手段。本文评述了基于CRISPR/Cas系统编辑噬菌体基因组的几例开创性研究,并且比较了多种操作程序的异同点和优缺点。同时,进一步构建了联合使用CRISPR/Cas系统与噬菌体重组系统开展噬菌体基因组编辑的新方案,讨论了新方案的潜在局限性,并对如何选择不同方案给予了建议。     

CRISPRi engineering E. coli for morphology diversification

Microbial morphology engineering has recently become interesting for biotechnology. Genes ftsZ and mreB encoding proteins of bacterial fission ring and skeletons, respectively, are essential for cell growth, they both are the most important genes keeping the bacterial shapes including the cell length and width, respectively. Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats interference, abbreviated as CRISPRi, was for the first time used in this study to regulate expression intensities of ftsZ or/and mreB in E. coli. Five sgRNAs associated with CRISPRi were designed and synthesized, respectively, to target five various locations on genes ftsZ or mreB encoded in the E. coli chromosome, resulting in various reduced expression levels of ftsZ or/and mreB, respectively, forming elongated or/and fatter cells. Repressions on gene expressions of ftsZ or/and mreB could be further intensified by combining various sgRNAs together. It was found that the stronger the repression on genes ftsZ or/and mreB, the longer the E. coli fibers, and the larger the E. coli cells. Combined repressions on expressions of ftsZ and mreB generated long and larger E. coli with diverse morphologies including various sizes of gourds, bars, coccus, spindles, multi-angles and ellipsoids. In all cases, accumulations of intracellular biopolyester polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) were in direct proportional to the intracellular volumes, ranging from 40% to 80% PHB in bacterial cell dry weights, depending on the cell volumes increases by the above CRISPRi applications.     

CRISPRi enables fast growth followed by stable aerobic pyruvate formation in Escherichia coli without auxotrophy

CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) was applied to enable the aerobic production of pyruvate in Escherichia coli MG1655 under glucose excess conditions by targeting the promoter regions of aceE or pdhR. Knockdown strains were cultivated in aerobic shaking flasks and the influence of inducer concentration and different sgRNA binding sites on the production of pyruvate was measured. Targeting the promoter regions of aceE or pdhR triggered pyruvate production during the exponential phase and reduced expression of aceE. In lab‐scale bioreactor fermentations, an aceE silenced strain successfully produced pyruvate under fully aerobic conditions during the exponential phase, but loss of productivity occurred during a subsequent nitrogen‐limited phase. Targeting the promoter region of pdhR enabled pyruvate production during the growth phase of cultivations, and a continued low‐level accumulation during the nitrogen‐limited production phase. Combinatorial targeting of the promoter regions of both aceE and pdhR in E. coli MG1655 pdCas9 psgRNA_aceE_234_pdhR_329 resulted in the stable aerobic production of pyruvate with non‐growing cells at Y_P/S  =  0.36 ± 0.029 g_Pyruvate/g_Glucose in lab‐scale bioreactors throughout an extended nitrogen‐limited production phase.     

Mosaicism in CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing

The CRISPR/Cas9 system is a rapid, simple, and often extremely efficient gene editing method. This method has been used in a variety of organisms and cell types over the past several years. However, using this technology for generating gene-edited animals involves a number of obstacles. One such obstacle is mosaicism, which is common in founder animals. This is especially the case when the CRISPR/Cas9 system is used in embryos. Here we review the pros and cons of mosaic mutations of gene-edited animals caused by using the CRISPR/Cas9 system in embryos. Furthermore, we will discuss the mechanisms underlying mosaic mutations resulting from the CRISPR/Cas9 system, as well as the possible strategies for reducing mosaicism. By developing ways to overcome mosaic mutations when using CRISPR/Cas9, genotyping for germline gene disruptions should become more reliable. This achievement will pave the way for using the CRISPR technology in the research and clinical applications where mosaicism is an issue.     

Get ready for the CRISPR/Cas system: A beginner's guide to the engineering and design of guide RNAs

The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) system is a state-of-the-art tool for versatile genome editing that has advanced basic research dramatically, with great potential for clinic applications. The system consists of two key molecules: a CRISPR-associated (Cas) effector nuclease and a single guide RNA. The simplicity of the system has enabled the development of a wide spectrum of derivative methods. Almost any laboratory can utilize these methods, although new users may initially be confused when faced with the potentially overwhelming abundance of choices. Cas nucleases and their engineering have been systematically reviewed previously. In the present review, we discuss single guide RNA engineering and design strategies that facilitate more efficient, more specific and safer gene editing.     

Domesticating a food spoilage yeast into an organic acid‐tolerant metabolic engineering host: Lactic acid production by engineered Zygosaccharomyces bailii

Lactic acid represents an important class of commodity chemicals, which can be produced by microbial cell factories. However, due to the toxicity of lactic acid at lower pH, microbial production requires the usage of neutralizing agents to maintain neutral pH. Zygosaccharomyces bailii, a food spoilage yeast, can grow under the presence of organic acids used as food preservatives. This unique trait of the yeast might be useful for producing lactic acid. With the goal of domesticating the organic acid‐tolerant yeast as a metabolic engineering host, seven Z. bailii strains were screened in a minimal medium with 10 g/L of acetic, or 60 g/L of lactic acid at pH 3. The Z. bailii NRRL Y7239 strain was selected as the most robust strain to be engineered for lactic acid production. By applying a PAN‐ARS‐based CRISPR‐Cas9 system consisting of a transfer RNA promoter and NAT selection, we demonstrated the targeted deletion of ADE2 and site‐specific integration of Rhizopus oryzae ldhA coding for lactate dehydrogenase into the PDC1 locus. The resulting pdc1::ldhA strain produced 35 g/L of lactic acid without ethanol production. This study demonstrates the feasibility of the CRISPR‐Cas9 system in Z. bailii, which can be applied for a fundamental study of the species.     

A CRISPR–Cas9 system for multiple genome editing and pathway assembly in Candida tropicalis

Genetic manipulation is among the most important tools for synthetic biology; however, modifying multiple genes is extremely time-consuming and can sometimes be impossible when dealing with gene families. Here, we present a clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) and CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9) system for use in the diploid yeast Candida tropicalis that is vastly superior to traditional techniques. This system enables the rapid and reliable introduction of multiple genetic deletions or mutations, as well as a stable expression using an integrated CRISPR–Cas9 cassette or a transient CRISPR–Cas9 cassette, together with a short donor DNA. We further show that the system can be used to promote the in vivo assembly of multiple DNA fragments and their stable integration into a target locus (or loci) in C. tropicalis. Based on this system, we present a platform for the biosynthesis of β-carotene and its derivatives. These results enable the practical application of C. tropicalis and the application of the system to other organisms.     

CRISPR/Cas9基因组编辑技术在癌症研究中的应用

CRISPR/cas9基因组编辑技术因其设计简单以及操作容易,使其在基因编辑的研究中越来越受到欢迎。利用该技术,科研人员可以实现在碱基的水平对基因组进行定点修饰。CRISPR系统现已经被广泛地应用到多个物种的基因组编辑以及癌症的相关研究中。本文在最新研究进展的基础上,结合对癌症研究及基因组编辑技术的理解,对CRISPR/Cas9技术在癌症研究中的应用进行了综述。     

Development of a CRISPR/Cas9 system for high efficiency multiplexed gene deletion in Rhodosporidium toruloides

The oleaginous yeast Rhodosporidium toruloides is considered a promising candidate for production of chemicals and biofuels thanks to its ability to grow on lignocellulosic biomass, and its high production of lipids and carotenoids. However, efforts to engineer this organism are hindered by a lack of suitable genetic tools. Here we report the development of a CRISPR/Cas9 system for genome editing in R. toruloides based on a fusion 5S rRNA–tRNA promoter for guide RNA (gRNA) expression, capable of greater than 95% gene knockout for various genetic targets. Additionally, multiplexed double-gene knockout mutants were obtained using this method with an efficiency of 78%. This tool can be used to accelerate future metabolic engineering work in this yeast.     

Chromosome engineering in zygotes with CRISPR/Cas9

Deletions, duplications, and inversions of large genomic regions covering several genes are an important class of disease causing variants in humans. Modeling these structural variants in mice requires multistep processes in ES cells, which has limited their availability. Mutant mice containing small insertions, deletions, and single nucleotide polymorphisms can be reliably generated using CRISPR/Cas9 directly in mouse zygotes. Large structural variants can be generated using CRISPR/Cas9 in ES cells, but it has not been possible to generate these directly in zygotes. We now demonstrate the direct generation of deletions, duplications and inversions of up to one million base pairs by zygote injection. genesis 54:78–85, 2016. © 2016 The Authors. genesis Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.