计算生物学分析在基因组编辑研究中的应用

基因组编辑是对基因组遗传信息进行定向改造的技术,其中CRISPR/Cas系统是目前应用最广泛的基因组编辑新技术。将先进的高通量测序以及相关计算生物分析应用于基因编辑研究,可进一步优化基因编辑效率和精度等检测流程,实现对全基因组功能基因筛选的监测。同时,利用基于生物信息及机器学习和深度学习等新方法,可对向导RNA(gRNA)的高效设计和实现对编辑效果的预测。本文将对计算生物学分析在CRISPR/Cas基因编辑系统的应用及研究进展等进行概述。     

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.     

Insights into maize genome editing via CRISPR/Cas9

Maize is an important crop for billions of people as food, feed, and industrial raw material. It is a prime driver of the global agricultural economy as well as the livelihoods of millions of farmers. Genetic interventions, such as breeding, hybridization and transgenesis have led to increased productivity of this crop in the last 100 years. The technique of genome editing is the latest advancement in genetics. Genome editing can be used for targeted deletions, additions, and corrections in the genome, all aimed at genetic enhancement of crops. The Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR associated protein 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) system is a recent genome editing technique that is considered simple, precise, robust and the most revolutionary. This review summarizes the current state of the art and predicts future directions in the use of the CRISPR/Cas9 tool in maize crop improvement.     

CRISPR/Cas9 for plant genome editing: accomplishments,problems and prospects

The increasing burden of the world population on agriculture requires the development of more robust crops. Dissecting the basic biology that underlies plant development and stress responses will inform the design of better crops. One powerful tool for studying plants at the molecular level is the RNA-programmed genome editing system composed of a clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-encoded guide RNA and the nuclease Cas9. Here, some of the recent advances in CRISPR/Cas9 technology that have profound implications for improving the study of plant biology are described. These tools are also paving the way towards new horizons for biotechnologies and crop development.     

CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing demonstrates functionality of the autoimmunity-associated SNP rs12946510

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) map genetic associations of complex traits with precision limited to a linkage disequilibrium group. To translate GWAS results into new understanding of disease mechanisms, individual causative polymorphisms and their target genes should be identified. CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing can be used to create isogenic cell lines bearing alternative genotypes of candidate single-nucleotide polymorphisms to test their causality and to reveal gene targets. An intergenic polymorphism rs12946510 is associated with multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease and asthma. We created sublines of the T-helper cell line bearing alternative genotypes of rs12946510 and showed that its risk (“T”) allele is associated with lower expression of IKZF3 and ORMDL3 genes and reduced cell activation. Our editing procedure can become an effective tool for discovering new genes involved in pathogenesis of complex diseases.     

High-efficiency breeding of early-maturing rice cultivars via CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing

<正>Rice is a staple food for more than half of the human population.It has been estimated that by 2030,40%more rice needs to be produced in order to meet the growing demand(Khush,2005).One of the strategies to improve rice productivity is to enlarge rice growth     

CRISPR/Cas technology: a revolutionary approach for genome engineering

<正>Precision genome editing tools are invaluable for biology,medicine and agriculture.With these tools we can determine the genetic basis underlying biological traits and processes,and then modify the genome of crops and livestock,model organisms,and even of patients,for phenotypic improvement,disease modeling and treatment.Site-specific nucleases provide a powerful and effective approach for     

Prospects for application of breakthrough technologies in breeding: The CRISPR/Cas9 system for plant genome editing

Integration of the methods of contemporary genetics and biotechnology into the breeding process is assessed, and the potential role and efficacy of genome editing as a novel approach is discussed. Use of molecular (DNA) markers for breeding was proposed more than 30 years ago. Nowadays, they are widely used as an accessory tool in order to select plants by mono- and olygogenic traits. Presently, the genomic approaches are actively introduced into the breeding processes owing to automatization of DNA polymorphism analyses and development of comparatively cheap methods of DNA sequencing. These approaches provide effective selection by complex quantitative traits, and are based on the full-genome genotyping of the breeding material. Moreover, biotechnological tools, such as doubled haploids production, which provides fast obtainment of homozygotes, are widely used in plant breeding. Use of genomic and biotechnological approaches makes the development of varieties less time consuming. It also decreases the cultivated areas and financial expenditures required for accomplishment of the breeding process. However, the capacities of modern breeding are not limited to only these advantages. Experiments carried out on plants about 10 years ago provided the first data on genome editing. In the last two years, we have observed a sharp increase in the number of publications that report about successful experiments aimed at plant genome editing owing to the use of the relatively simple and convenient CRISPR/Cas9 system. The goal of some of these experiments was to modify agriculturally valuable genes of cultivated plants, such as potato, cabbage, tomato, maize, rice, wheat, barley, soybean and sorghum. These studies show that it is possible to obtain nontransgenic plants carrying stably inherited, specifically determined mutations using the CRISPR/Cas9 system. This possibility offers the challenge to obtain varieties with predetermined mono- and olygogenic traits.     

CRISPR/Cas基因编辑系统研究进展

规律性成簇间隔的短回文重复序列(clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats, CRISPR)的发现和工程技术对生命科学的发展带来巨大的推动作用。RNA引导的Cas(CRISPR-associated)酶已被用作操纵细胞、动物和植物基因组的工具。这加速了基础研究的步伐,并使其在临床和农业上的应用成为可能。CRISPR/Cas9对在实验系统中进行的功能基因组学的研究有重大影响。CRISPR/Cas9系统自发现以来,因其操作便捷、成本低、特异性高、可同时打靶任意数量基因等优点而被广泛应用。经过近几年研究发现,Cas9变异体(Cas12a、Cas13)有利于突破和克服CRISPR/Cas9应用中的一些限制,Cas12a极大地扩展了基因编辑靶位点的选择范围,同时其介导的多基因编辑具有明显的优势;Cas13等蛋白能特异性结合和编辑RNA,开启了转录组研究的新篇章。本文主要就CRISPR/Cas的研究背景以及Cas9、Cas12a和Cas13系统研究进展和应用进行综述,并对其应用前景和发展方向进行了展望。     

Rapid generation of genetic diversity by multiplex CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing in rice

The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats(CRISPR)-associated endonuclease 9(CRISPR/Cas9) system has emerged as a promising technology for specific genome editing in many species. Here we constructed one vector targeting eight agronomic genes in rice using the CRISPR/Cas9 multiplex genome editing system. By subsequent genetic transformation and DNA sequencing, we found that the eight target genes have high mutation efficiencies in the T_0 generation. Both heterozygous and homozygous mutations of all editing genes were obtained in T_0 plants. In addition, homozygous sextuple, septuple, and octuple mutants were identified. As the abundant genotypes in T_0 transgenic plants, various phenotypes related to the editing genes were observed. The findings demonstrate the potential of the CRISPR/Cas9 system for rapid introduction of genetic diversity during crop breeding.     

CRISPR/Cas9-based genome editing of the filamentous fungi: the state of the art

Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - In recent years, a variety of genetic tools have been developed and applied to various filamentous fungi, which are widely applied in agriculture and the...     

CRISPR/Cas9 editing of carotenoid genes in tomato

CRISPR/Cas9 technology is rapidly spreading as genome editing system in crop breeding. The efficacy of CRISPR/Cas9 in tomato was tested on Psy1 and CrtR-b2, two key genes of carotenoid biosynthesis. Carotenoids are plant secondary metabolites that must be present in the diet of higher animals because they exert irreplaceable functions in important physiological processes. Psy1 and CrtR-b2 were chosen because their impairment is easily detectable as a change of fruit or flower color. Two CRISPR/Cas9 constructs were designed to target neighboring sequences on the first exon of each gene. Thirty-four out of forty-nine (69%) transformed plants showed the expected loss-of-function phenotypes due to the editing of both alleles of a locus. However, by including the seven plants edited only at one of the two homologs and showing a normal phenotype, the editing rate reaches the 84%. Although none chimeric phenotype was observed, the cloning of target region amplified fragments revealed that in the 40% of analyzed DNA samples were present more than two alleles. As concerning the type of mutation, it was possible to identify 34 new different alleles across the four transformation experiments. The sequence characterization of the CRISPR/Cas9-induced mutations showed that the most frequent repair errors were the insertion and the deletion of one base. The results of this study prove that the CRISPRCas9 system can be an efficient and quick method for the generation of useful mutations in tomato to be implemented in breeding programs.     

Functional characterization of SlitPBP3 in Spodoptera litura by CRISPR/Cas9 mediated genome editing

Functional gene analysis by using genome editing techniques is limited only in few model insects. Here, we reported an efficient and heritable gene mutagenesis analysis in an important lepidopteran pest, Spodoptera litura, using the CRISPR/Cas9 system. By using this system, we successfully obtained the homozygous S. litura strain by targeting the pheromone binding protein 3 gene (SlitPBP3), which allowed us to elucidate the role of this gene in the olfaction of the female sex pheromones. By co-injection of Cas9 mRNA and sgRNA into S. litura eggs, highly efficient chimera mutation in SlitPBP3 loci was detected both in injected eggs (39.1%) and in the resulting individual moths (87.5%). We used the mutant moths as parents to obtain the G1 offspring and the homozygous mutant strain in G2. The function of SlitPBP3 was explored by Electroantennogram (EAG) recordings with a homozygous mutant strain. The result showed that the EAG responses were significantly decreased in mutant males than in control males when treated with the major sex pheromone component (Z9,E11-14:Ac) and a minor component (Z9-14:Ac) at higher dosages. The results demonstrate that s SlitPBP3 gene plays a minor role in the perception of the female sex pheromones. Furthermore, our study provides a useful methodology with the CRISPR/Cas9 system for gene in vivo functional study, particular for lepidopteran species in which the RNAi approach is not efficient.     

Erratum to: Rapid generation of genetic diversity by multiplex CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing in rice

正The same figure was misused for the PCR/RE assay results of Gn1a and GW2 fragments in Figure 3, and the arrows in the graphicsal result of GW2 were not on the tape. The corrected Figure 3 is as follows.