CRISPR家族新成员：CRISPR-Cpf1

近年来,基因组编辑技术得到了飞速发展,该技术正在基础生物学研究、医学、生物技术等多个领域引起一场新的变革.Cpf1,作为CRISPR系统的新成员,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.另外,较短的crRNA序列也使Cpf1更容易产业化.本文将从Cpf1的结构和编辑特点、应用进展、目前面临的问题及展望等方面进行介绍和总结.     

CRISPR传感检测技术的研究进展

CRISPR传感检测技术具有便宜、简单、便携、高灵敏和高特异等优点,被称为“下一代分子诊断技术”。由于CRISPR-Cas系统具有特异的识别、顺式切割和非特异性的反式切割能力,已经实现了对DNA和RNA等核酸靶标以及蛋白质、外泌体、细胞和小分子等非核酸靶标的检测。为了解不同CRISPR传感检测技术的优势和发展历程,促进该技术的发展和应用,本文根据不同Cas蛋白的活性特征,对目前的CRISPR传感检测技术进行了分类总结,并在此基础上根据检测的靶标类型,依次总结了各种CRISPR传感检测技术的应用情况,以期为开发新型CRISPR传感检测技术提供参考。     

CRISPR在细菌分型和进化中的研究进展

规律成簇的间隔的短回文重复序列（CRISPR）是近年发现的一类存在于古细菌和细菌基因组内的结构,该结构可以使细菌获得对外源DNA如质粒和噬菌体的免疫,同时由于其结构的多态性,也可作为细菌分型和进化研究的位点。简要综述了CRSIPR系统的基本结构,及其在分型和进化应用方面的研究进展。     

CRISPR相关生物信息学基础

成簇规律间隔短回文序列（clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats,CRISPR）是细菌和古细菌在不断进化的过程中获得的一种适应性免疫防御机制,该结构与一些功能相关的蛋白质（CRISPR associated, Cas）合称CRISPR Cas系统。由于其致突变效率高、操作简单及成本较低的特点,近年来对CRISPR/Cas系统的研究获得越来越广泛的关注。该系统迅速在各领域中得到广泛应用,被认为是一种具有广阔应用前景的基因组定点改造分子工具。但是,该系统存在脱靶效应、测序数据分析等挑战。为此,许多研究者开发出各种软件解决以上问题。本文着重从生物信息学的角度出发,对CRISPR/Cas系统中sgRNA的设计软件、CRISPR全基因组筛选功能基因的测序数据分析软件以及CRISPR在生物信息学中的运用作一系统综述。     

CRISPR/Cas9高通量筛选技术与肿瘤治疗

成簇规律间隔短回文重复(clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats, CRISPR),是细菌或古菌在与噬菌体长期生存进化获得的一种免疫系统. 根据Cas蛋白(CRISPR-associated protein)的不同,CRISPR系统可分为3种. 其中II型CRISPR/Cas9已被改造成为一种有效的基因编辑工具,并运用于多种物种基因的改造. 作为1种基因编辑的手段,CRISPR/Cas9技术通过诱导DNA双链断裂损伤,进一步干扰基因的表达. 与传统的基因编辑技术相比,CRISPR/Cas9技术显示出效率高、成本低和易操作等特点. 与此同时,二代测序技术的发展促进全基因组的解析. CRISPR技术结合高通量二代测序手段的使用,在肿瘤的治疗领域中已发挥出了独特的优势. 本文就近年来CRISPR/Cas9高通量筛选技术的发展,及其在肿瘤治疗过程中的应用进行综述.     

成簇的规律间隔的短回文重复序列CRISPR 的研究进展

最近发现,在细菌和古菌中广泛存在的成簇的规律间隔的短回文重复序列(clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats,CRISPR)及其相关蛋白是针对噬菌体、质粒等外源DNA的获得性和可遗传的免疫系统。本文综述了CRISPR系统的基本结构、多样性、作用机理及其区分自我与非我的机制,并对CRISPR研究和应用前景进行了展望。     

Making gene drive biodegradable

Gene drive systems have long been sought to modify mosquito populations and thus combat malaria and dengue. Powerful gene drive systems have been developed in laboratory experiments, but may never be used in practice unless they can be shown to be acceptable through rigorous field-based testing. Such testing is complicated by the anticipated difficulty in removing gene drive transgenes from nature. Here, we consider the inclusion of self-elimination mechanisms into the design of homing-based gene drive transgenes. This approach not only caused the excision of the gene drive transgene, but also generates a transgene-free allele resistant to further action by the gene drive. Strikingly, our models suggest that this mechanism, acting at a modest rate (10%) as part of a single-component system, would be sufficient to cause the rapid reversion of even the most robust homing-based gene drive transgenes, without the need for further remediation. Modelling also suggests that unlike gene drive transgenes themselves, self-eliminating transgene approaches are expected to tolerate substantial rates of failure. Thus, self-elimination technology may permit rigorous field-based testing of gene drives by establishing strict time limits on the existence of gene drive transgenes in nature, rendering them essentially biodegradable.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Novel control strategies for mosquito-borne diseases''.     

Development and application of CRISPR-based genetic tools in Bacillus species and Bacillus phages

Recently, the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) system has been developed into a precise and efficient genome editing tool. Since its discovery as an adaptive immune system in prokaryotes, it has been applied in many different research fields including biotechnology and medical sciences. The high demand for rapid, highly efficient and versatile genetic tools to thrive in bacteria-based cell factories accelerates this process. This review mainly focuses on significant advancements of the CRISPR system in Bacillus subtilis, including the achievements in gene editing, and on problems still remaining. Next, we comprehensively summarize this genetic tool's up-to-date development and utilization in other Bacillus species, including B. licheniformis, B. methanolicus, B. anthracis, B. cereus, B. smithii and B. thuringiensis. Furthermore, we describe the current application of CRISPR tools in phages to increase Bacillus hosts' resistance to virulent phages and phage genetic modification. Finally, we suggest potential strategies to further improve this advanced technique and provide insights into future directions of CRISPR technologies for rendering Bacillus species cell factories more effective and more powerful.     

基因组编辑脱靶研究进展

近年各种基因组编辑技术的成功研发为人类疾病的治疗与预防谱写了新的篇章,这些技术对应的基因组编辑工具主要包括锌指核酸酶(ZFNs)、转录激活子样效应因子核酸酶(TALENs)和最近发现的规律成簇间隔短回文重复(CRISPR)/Cas系统。这些工具相应的脱靶问题目前是制约基因组编辑技术介导人类疾病治疗的重要瓶颈。本文将分别从基因组编辑工具的介绍、脱靶的现状、解决优化的方案和检测方法进行总结与探讨,通过比较,进一步了解基因组编辑工具的优缺点及相关脱靶检测方法的适用性。     

Current progress in CRISPR-based diagnostic platforms

The CRISPR-Cas system is a key technology for genome editing and regulation in a wide range of organisms and cell types. Recently, CRISPR-Cas–based diagnostic platform has shown idealistic properties for pathogen detection. Integrating the CRISPR-Cas platform along with lateral flow system allows rapid, sensitive, specific, cheap, and reliable diagnostic. It has the potential to be in frontline for not only pathogen detection during the epidemic outbreak, but also cancer, and genetic diseases.     

Engineering large viral DNA genomes using the CRISPR‐Cas9 system

Manipulation of viral genomes is essential for studying viral gene function and utilizing viruses for therapy. Several techniques for viral genome engineering have been developed. Homologous recombination in virus‐infected cells has traditionally been used to edit viral genomes; however, the frequency of the expected recombination is quite low. Alternatively, large viral genomes have been edited using a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) plasmid system. However, cloning of large viral genomes into BAC plasmids is both laborious and time‐consuming. In addition, because it is possible for insertion into the viral genome of drug selection markers or parts of BAC plasmids to affect viral function, artificial genes sometimes need to be removed from edited viruses. Herpes simplex virus (HSV), a common DNA virus with a genome length of 152 kbp, causes labialis, genital herpes and encephalitis. Mutant HSV is a candidate for oncotherapy, in which HSV is used to kill tumor cells. In this study, the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat‐Cas9 system was used to very efficiently engineer HSV without inserting artificial genes into viral genomes. Not only gene‐ablated HSV but also gene knock‐in HSV were generated using this method. Furthermore, selection with phenotypes of edited genes promotes the isolation efficiencies of expectedly mutated viral clones. Because our method can be applied to other DNA viruses such as Epstein–Barr virus, cytomegaloviruses, vaccinia virus and baculovirus, our system will be useful for studying various types of viruses, including clinical isolates.     

CRISPR/Cas9‐mediated whole genomic wide knockout screening identifies mitochondrial ribosomal proteins involving in oxygen‐glucose deprivation/reperfusion resistance

Recanalization therapy by intravenous thrombolysis or endovascular therapy is critical for the treatment of cerebral infarction. However, the recanalization treatment will also exacerbate acute brain injury and even severely threatens human life due to the reperfusion injury. So far, the underlying mechanisms for cerebral ischaemia‐reperfusion injury are poorly understood and effective therapeutic interventions are yet to be discovered. Therefore, in the research, we subjected SK‐N‐BE(2) cells to oxygen‐glucose deprivation/reperfusion (OGDR) insult and performed a pooled genome‐wide CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats)/Cas9 (CRISPR‐associated protein 9) knockout screen to discover new potential therapeutic targets for cerebral ischaemia‐reperfusion injury. We used Metascape to identify candidate genes which might involve in OGDR resistance. We found that the genes contributed to OGDR resistance were primarily involved in neutrophil degranulation, mitochondrial translation, and regulation of cysteine‐type endopeptidase activity involved in apoptotic process and response to oxidative stress. We then knocked down some of the identified candidate genes individually. We demonstrated that MRPL19, MRPL32, MRPL52 and MRPL51 inhibition increased cell viability and attenuated OGDR‐induced apoptosis. We also demonstrated that OGDR down‐regulated the expression of MRPL19 and MRPL51 protein. Taken together, our data suggest that genome‐scale screening with Cas9 is a reliable tool to analyse the cellular systems that respond to OGDR injury. MRPL19 and MRPL51 contribute to OGDR resistance and are supposed to be promising targets for the treatment of cerebral ischaemia‐reperfusion damage.     

First Experimental Evidence for the Presence of a CRISPR Toxin in Sulfolobus

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) and CRISPR-associated (cas) genes constitute the adaptive immune system in bacteria and archaea. Although the CRISPR-Cas systems have been hypothesized to encode potential toxins, no experimental data supporting the hypothesis are available in the literature. In this work, we provide the first experimental evidence for the presence of a toxin gene in the type I-A CRISPR system of hyperthermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus. csa5, under the control of its native promoter in a shuttle vector, could not be transformed into CRISPR-deficient mutant Sulfolobus solfataricus Sens1, demonstrating a strong toxicity in the cells. A single-amino-acid mutation destroying the intersubunit bridge of Csa5 attenuated the toxicity, indicative of the importance of Csa5 oligomerization for its toxicity. In line with the absence of Csa5 toxicity in S. solfataricus InF1 containing functional CRISPR systems, the expression of csa5 is repressed in InF1 cells. Induced from the arabinose promoter in Sens1 cells, Csa5 oligomers resistant to 1% SDS co-occur with chromosome degradation and cell death, reinforcing the connection between Csa5 oligomerization and its toxicity. Importantly, a rudivirus was shown to induce Csa5 expression and the formation of SDS-resistant Csa5 oligomers in Sulfolobus cells. This demonstrates that the derepression of csa5 and the subsequent Csa5 oligomerization take place in native virus-host systems. Thus, csa5 is likely to act as a suicide gene under certain circumstances to inhibit virus spreading.     

High‐throughput detection and screening of plants modified by gene editing using quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction

Gene editing techniques are becoming powerful tools for modifying target genes in organisms. Although several methods have been developed to detect gene‐edited organisms, these techniques are time and labour intensive. Meanwhile, few studies have investigated high‐throughput detection and screening strategies for plants modified by gene editing. In this study, we developed a simple, sensitive and high‐throughput quantitative real‐time (qPCR)‐based method. The qPCR‐based method exploits two differently labelled probes that are placed within one amplicon at the gene editing target site to simultaneously detect the wild‐type and a gene‐edited mutant. We showed that the qPCR‐based method can accurately distinguish CRISPR/Cas9‐induced mutants from the wild‐type in several different plant species, such as Oryza sativa, Arabidopsis thaliana, Sorghum bicolor, and Zea mays. Moreover, the method can subsequently determine the mutation type by direct sequencing of the qPCR products of mutations due to gene editing. The qPCR‐based method is also sufficiently sensitive to distinguish between heterozygous and homozygous mutations in T₀ transgenic plants. In a 384‐well plate format, the method enabled the simultaneous analysis of up to 128 samples in three replicates without handling the post‐polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products. Thus, we propose that our method is an ideal choice for screening plants modified by gene editing from many candidates in T₀ transgenic plants, which will be widely used in the area of plant gene editing.     

Genome editing of model oleaginous microalgae Nannochloropsis spp. by CRISPR/Cas9

Microalgae are promising feedstock for biofuels yet mechanistic probing of their cellular network and industrial strain development have been hindered by lack of genome‐editing tools. Nannochloropsis spp. are emerging model microalgae for scalable oil production and carbon sequestration. Here we established a CRISPR/Cas9‐based precise genome‐editing approach for the industrial oleaginous microalga Nannochloropsis oceanica, using nitrate reductase (NR; g7988) as example. A new screening procedure that compares between restriction enzyme‐digested nested PCR (nPCR) products derived from enzyme‐digested and not‐digested genomic DNA of transformant pools was developed to quickly, yet reliably, detect genome‐engineered mutants. Deep sequencing of nPCR products directly amplified from pooled genomic DNA revealed over an 1% proportion of 5‐bp deletion mutants and a lower frequency of 12‐bp deletion mutants, with both types of editing precisely located at the targeted site. The isolated mutants, in which precise deletion of five bases caused a frameshift in NR translation, grow normally under NH₄Cl but fail to grow under NaNO₃, and thus represent a valuable chassis strain for transgenic‐strain development. This demonstration of CRISPR/Cas9‐based genome editing in industrial microalgae opens many doors for microalgae‐based biotechnological applications.     

The Exocyst: Dynamic Machine or Static Tethering Complex?

The exocyst is a conserved octameric complex that physically tethers a vesicle to the plasma membrane, prior to membrane fusion. It is important not only for secretion and membrane delivery but also, in mammalian cells, for cytokinesis, ciliogenesis, autophagy, tumorigenesis, and host defense. The combination of genome editing and advanced light microscopy of exocyst subunits in living cells has recently shown the complex to be much more dynamic than previously appreciated, and exposed how little we still know about its function and regulation.     

基于比较基因组学分析大黄鱼来源波罗的海希瓦氏菌的防御系统

【目的】波罗的海希瓦氏菌是冷藏海产品中常见的腐败菌,通过全基因组测序和转录组测序,分析它们的规律成簇间隔短回文重复序列(clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats,CRISPR)系统和限制修饰(restricted modification,R-M)系统,为波罗的海希瓦氏菌的基础生物学研究和海产品中微生物的致腐机制提供理论基础。【方法】分析大黄鱼来源波罗的海希瓦氏菌SB-19株和W-3株的致腐能力,对W-3株的全基因组序列进行测序、组装和注释,结合已报道的SB-19株和27株希瓦氏菌的全基因组序列,采用比较基因组学方法探究它们的CRISPR和R-M系统的差异,进而对SB-19株和W-3株在不同生长时期进行转录组测序,以及两株菌内致腐相关基因的共进化分析。【结果】灭菌大黄鱼汁中产生挥发性盐基总氮和三甲胺值显示波罗的海希瓦氏菌SB-19株和W-3株分别为强致腐能力和弱致腐能力菌株;平均核苷酸一致性证实SB-19株和W-3株为波罗的海希瓦氏菌,但基于全基因组构建的系统发育树则发现二者之间存在遗传信息上的差异;SB-19株...