Optimization of Genome Engineering Approaches with the CRISPR/Cas9 System

Designer nucleases such as TALENS and Cas9 have opened new opportunities to scarlessly edit the mammalian genome. Here we explored several parameters that influence Cas9-mediated scarless genome editing efficiency in murine embryonic stem cells. Optimization of transfection conditions and enriching for transfected cells are critical for efficiently recovering modified clones. Paired gRNAs and wild-type Cas9 efficiently create programmed deletions, which facilitate identification of targeted clones, while paired gRNAs and the Cas9D10A nickase generated smaller targeted indels with lower chance of off-target mutagenesis. Genome editing is also useful for programmed introduction of exogenous DNA sequences at a target locus. Increasing the length of the homology arms of the homology-directed repair template strongly enhanced targeting efficiency, while increasing the length of the DNA insert reduced it. Together our data provide guidance on optimal design of scarless gene knockout, modification, or knock-in experiments using Cas9 nuclease.     

哺乳动物基因组靶向修饰阳性细胞富集的报告载体系统研究进展

基因组靶向修饰技术对基因功能研究、基因治疗以及转基因育种研究都具有重要的意义和价值。近年来发展起来的人工核酸酶如ZFNs、TALENs和CRISPR/Cas9等的应用大大提高了基因组靶向修饰的效率。但是由于核酸酶表达载体转染效率、核酸酶表达效率及活性以及基因组被打靶后的修复效率等因素在一定程度上制约着基因组靶向修饰阳性细胞的获得。因此富集和筛选基因组靶向修饰阳性细胞是一个亟待解决的问题。报告载体系统可以间接地反映核酸酶的工作效率并有效富集核酸酶修饰的阳性细胞,进而提高基因组靶向修饰阳性细胞的富集和筛选效率。本文主要针对由非同源末端连接(Non-homologous end joining,NHEJ)和单链退火(Single-strand annealing,SSA)两种修复机制分别介导的报告载体系统的原理和应用进行了详细的介绍,以期为以后的相关研究提供借鉴和参考。     

Efficient and error-free fluorescent gene tagging in human organoids without double-strand DNA cleavage

CRISPR-associated nucleases are powerful tools for precise genome editing of model systems, including human organoids. Current methods describing fluorescent gene tagging in organoids rely on the generation of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) to stimulate homology-directed repair (HDR) or non-homologous end joining (NHEJ)-mediated integration of the desired knock-in. A major downside associated with DSB-mediated genome editing is the required clonal selection and expansion of candidate organoids to verify the genomic integrity of the targeted locus and to confirm the absence of off-target indels. By contrast, concurrent nicking of the genomic locus and targeting vector, known as in-trans paired nicking (ITPN), stimulates efficient HDR-mediated genome editing to generate large knock-ins without introducing DSBs. Here, we show that ITPN allows for fast, highly efficient, and indel-free fluorescent gene tagging in human normal and cancer organoids. Highlighting the ease and efficiency of ITPN, we generate triple fluorescent knock-in organoids where 3 genomic loci were simultaneously modified in a single round of targeting. In addition, we generated model systems with allele-specific readouts by differentially modifying maternal and paternal alleles in one step. ITPN using our palette of targeting vectors, publicly available from Addgene, is ideally suited for generating error-free heterozygous knock-ins in human organoids.

A major downside of double-strand break-mediated genome editing is the need to verify the genomic integrity of the targeted locus and confirm the absence of off-target indels. This study shows that in-trans paired nicking is a mutation-free CRISPR strategy to introduce precise knock-ins into human organoids; its genomic fidelity allows all knock-in cells to be pooled, accelerating the establishment of new organoid models.     

Cas9HF1 enhanced specificity in Ustilago maydis

The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-Cas9 system is widely used as a tool to precisely manipulate genomic sequence targeted by sgRNA (single guide RNA) and is adapted in different species for genome editing. One of the major concerns of CRISPR-Cas9 is the possibility of off-target effects, which can be remedied by the deployment of high fidelity Cas9 variants. Ustilago maydis is a maize fungal pathogen, which has served as a model organism for biotrophic pathogens for decades. The successful adaption of CRISPR-Cas9 in U. maydis greatly facilitated effector biology studies. Here, we constructed an U. maydis reporter strain that allows in vivo quantification of efficiency and target specificity of three high fidelity Cas9 variants, Cas9HF1, Cas9esp1.1 and Cas9hypa. This approach identified Cas9HF1 as most specific Cas9 variant in U. maydis. Furthermore, whole genome sequencing showed absence of off-target effects in U. maydis by CRISPR-Cas9 editing.     

Meiotic Cas9 expression mediates gene conversion in the male and female mouse germline

Highly efficient gene conversion systems have the potential to facilitate the study of complex genetic traits using laboratory mice and, if implemented as a “gene drive,” to limit loss of biodiversity and disease transmission caused by wild rodent populations. We previously showed that such a system of gene conversion from heterozygous to homozygous after a sequence targeted CRISPR/Cas9 double-strand DNA break (DSB) is feasible in the female mouse germline. In the male germline, however, all DSBs were instead repaired by end joining (EJ) mechanisms to form an “insertion/deletion” (indel) mutation. These observations suggested that timing Cas9 expression to coincide with meiosis I is critical to favor conditions when homologous chromosomes are aligned and interchromosomal homology-directed repair (HDR) mechanisms predominate. Here, using a Cas9 knock-in allele at the Spo11 locus, we show that meiotic expression of Cas9 does indeed mediate gene conversion in the male as well as in the female germline. However, the low frequency of both HDR and indel mutation in both male and female germlines suggests that Cas9 may be expressed from the Spo11 locus at levels too low for efficient DSB formation. We suggest that more robust Cas9 expression initiated during early meiosis I may improve the efficiency of gene conversion and further increase the rate of “super-mendelian” inheritance from both male and female mice.

This study shows that while Cas9 expression during meiosis I promotes genotype conversion - the mechanism underlying CRISPR ’gene drive’ - in both male and female mice, timing and high levels of Cas9 protein are critical to achieve robust efficiency.     

CRISPR/Cas9 nickase-mediated efficient and seamless knock-in of lethal genes in the medaka fish Oryzias latipes

The CRISPR/Cas system offers new opportunities for targeted gene modifications in a wide range of organisms. In medaka (Oryzias latipes), a vertebrate model organism, a wild-type Cas9-based approach is commonly used to establish desired strains, however, its use in lethal genes is still challenging due to excess gene disruptions triggered by DNA double strand breaks (DSBs). To overcome this problem, we aimed to develop a new knock-in system using Cas9 nickase (Cas9n) that can reduce DNA DSBs. We revealed that Cas9n allowed reduction of the DSB-induced unwanted mutagenesis via non-homologous end-joining at both on- and off- target sites. Further, with a new donor plasmid (p2BaitD) that provides a linear template through Cas9n-mediated nicks, we successfully integrated reporter cassettes via homology-directed repair (HDR) into all three loci tested, including a lethal gene. In the experiment targeting the lethal gene, the combination of p2BaitD and Cas9n achieved higher survival rates than the Cas9-based approach, which enabled the desired knock-in founders. Additionally, through a technical blend of our knock-in system with a recently developed One-step mating protocol, we successfully established a homozygous knock-in strain in one generation period. This study presents evidence of an effective method to generate an HDR-mediated gene knock-in in medaka and other organisms, which is useful for establishing screening platforms for genes or drugs toxicity or other applications.     

快速构建CRISPR/Cas9基因组靶向编辑系统

CRISPR/Cas9核酸酶作为一种新的基因组靶向编辑技术,已成功应用于多种动植物基因组修饰研究. CRISPR/Cas9作用后的阳性细胞筛选和富集是该技术的关键之一. 本研究以鸡EAV-HP（endogenous avian retrovirus-HP）基因和MSTN（myostatin）基因为例,从靶位点的选择、表达载体构建、双基因报告载体构建和核酸酶活性验证4个方面,系统研究了CRISPR/Cas9核酸酶技术平台. 结果表明,利用寡聚核苷酸直接退火方法,构建表达载体和报告载体的阳性率分别高达100%和89.5%. 报告载体的PuroR（puromycin resistant gene）和eGFP（enhanced green fluorescent protein）基因的成功表达表明,构建的CRISPR/Cas9系统能有效切割靶序列,并用于后续阳性克隆的筛选和富集. 本方法摒弃了传统分子克隆的PCR扩增和酶切处理目标基因的方法,而是利用寡聚核苷酸直接退火获得含有黏性末端的目标DNA,简化了载体构建过程,低成本且快速获得CRISPR/Cas9基因组靶向编辑系统.     

Efficient and Heritable Gene Targeting in Tilapia by CRISPR/Cas9

Studies of gene function in non-model animals have been limited by the approaches available for eliminating gene function. The CRISPR/Cas9 (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR associated) system has recently become a powerful tool for targeted genome editing. Here, we report the use of the CRISPR/Cas9 system to disrupt selected genes, including nanos2, nanos3, dmrt1, and foxl2, with efficiencies as high as 95%. In addition, mutations in dmrt1 and foxl2 induced by CRISPR/Cas9 were efficiently transmitted through the germline to F₁. Obvious phenotypes were observed in the G0 generation after mutation of germ cell or somatic cell-specific genes. For example, loss of Nanos2 and Nanos3 in XY and XX fish resulted in germ cell-deficient gonads as demonstrated by GFP labeling and Vasa staining, respectively, while masculinization of somatic cells in both XY and XX gonads was demonstrated by Dmrt1 and Cyp11b2 immunohistochemistry and by up-regulation of serum androgen levels. Our data demonstrate that targeted, heritable gene editing can be achieved in tilapia, providing a convenient and effective approach for generating loss-of-function mutants. Furthermore, our study shows the utility of the CRISPR/Cas9 system for genetic engineering in non-model species like tilapia and potentially in many other teleost species.     

一种新型的CRISPR/Cas9-hLacI双链DNA供体适配基因编辑系统

在CRISPR/Cas9系统介导的基因编辑中,借助于双链DNA （double-stranded DNA,dsDNA）供体模板的重组效应能够实现对目标基因组靶位点的精确编辑和基因敲入,然而高等真核生物细胞中同源重组的低效性限制了该基因编辑策略的发展和应用。为提高CRISPR/Cas9系统介导dsDNA供体模板的同源重组效率,本研究利用大肠杆菌（Escherichia coli）乳糖操纵子阻遏蛋白LacI与操纵序列LacO特异性结合的特点,通过重组DNA技术将密码子人源化优化的阻遏蛋白基因LacI分别与脓链球菌（Streptococcus pyogenes）源的SpCas9和路邓葡萄球菌（Staphylococcus lugdunensis）源的SlugCas9-HF融合表达,通过PCR将操纵序列LacO与dsDNA供体嵌合,构建了新型的CRISPR/Cas9-hLacI供体适配系统（donor adapting system,DAS）。首先在报告载体水平上对Cas9核酸酶活性、DAS介导的同源引导修复（homology-directed repair,HDR）效率进行了验证和优化,其次在基因组水平对其介导的基因精确编辑进行了检测,并最终利用CRISPR/SlugCas9-hLacI DAS在HEK293T细胞中实现了VEGFA位点的精确编辑,效率高达30.5%,显著高于野生型。综上所述,本研究开发了新型的CRISPR/Cas9-hLacI供体适配基因编辑系统,丰富了CRISPR/Cas9基因编辑技术种类,为以后的基因编辑及分子设计育种研究提供了新的工具。     

Validation Study to Determine the Accuracy of Widespread Promoterless EGFP Reporter at Assessing CRISPR/Cas9-Mediated Homology Directed Repair

An accurate visual reporter system to assess homology-directed repair (HDR) is a key prerequisite for evaluating the efficiency of Cas9-mediated precise gene editing. Herein, we tested the utility of the widespread promoterless EGFP reporter to assess the efficiency of CRISPR/Cas9-mediated homologous recombination by fluorescence expression. We firstly established a promoterless EGFP reporter donor targeting the porcine GAPDH locus to study CRISPR/Cas9-mediated homologous recombination in porcine cells. Curiously, EGFP was expressed at unexpectedly high levels from the promoterless donor in porcine cells, with or without Cas9/sgRNA. Even higher EGFP expression was detected in human cells and those of other species when the porcine donor was transfected alone. Therefore, EGFP could be expressed at certain level in various cells transfected with the promoterless EGFP reporter alone, making it a low-resolution reporter for measuring Cas9-mediated HDR events. In summary, the widespread promoterless EGFP reporter could not be an ideal measurement for HDR screening and there is an urgent need to develop a more reliable, high-resolution HDR screening system to better explore strategies of increasing the efficiency of Cas9-mediated HDR in mammalian cells.     

Precise and Heritable Genome Editing in Evolutionarily Diverse Nematodes Using TALENs and CRISPR/Cas9 to Engineer Insertions and Deletions

Exploitation of custom-designed nucleases to induce DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) at genomic locations of choice has transformed our ability to edit genomes, regardless of their complexity. DSBs can trigger either error-prone repair pathways that induce random mutations at the break sites or precise homology-directed repair pathways that generate specific insertions or deletions guided by exogenously supplied DNA. Prior editing strategies using site-specific nucleases to modify the Caenorhabditis elegans genome achieved only the heritable disruption of endogenous loci through random mutagenesis by error-prone repair. Here we report highly effective strategies using TALE nucleases and RNA-guided CRISPR/Cas9 nucleases to induce error-prone repair and homology-directed repair to create heritable, precise insertion, deletion, or substitution of specific DNA sequences at targeted endogenous loci. Our robust strategies are effective across nematode species diverged by 300 million years, including necromenic nematodes (Pristionchus pacificus), male/female species (Caenorhabditis species 9), and hermaphroditic species (C. elegans). Thus, genome-editing tools now exist to transform nonmodel nematode species into genetically tractable model organisms. We demonstrate the utility of our broadly applicable genome-editing strategies by creating reagents generally useful to the nematode community and reagents specifically designed to explore the mechanism and evolution of X chromosome dosage compensation. By developing an efficient pipeline involving germline injection of nuclease mRNAs and single-stranded DNA templates, we engineered precise, heritable nucleotide changes both close to and far from DSBs to gain or lose genetic function, to tag proteins made from endogenous genes, and to excise entire loci through targeted FLP-FRT recombination.     

High-efficiency and multilocus targeted integration in CHO cells using CRISPR-mediated donor nicking and DNA repair inhibitors

Efforts to leverage clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) for targeted genomic modifications in mammalian cells are limited by low efficiencies and heterogeneous outcomes. To aid method optimization, we developed an all-in-one reporter system, including a novel superfolder orange fluorescent protein (sfOrange), to simultaneously quantify gene disruption, site-specific integration (SSI), and random integration (RI). SSI strategies that utilize different donor plasmid formats and Cas9 nuclease variants were evaluated for targeting accuracy and efficiency in Chinese hamster ovary cells. Double-cut and double-nick donor formats significantly improved targeting accuracy by 2.3–8.3-fold and 19–22-fold, respectively, compared to standard circular donors. Notably, Cas9-mediated donor linearization was associated with increased RI events, whereas donor nicking minimized RI without sacrificing SSI efficiency and avoided low-fidelity outcomes. A screen of 10 molecules that modulate the major mammalian DNA repair pathways identified two inhibitors that further enhance targeting accuracy and efficiency to achieve SSI in 25% of transfected cells without selection. The optimized methods integrated transgene expression cassettes with 96% efficiency at a single locus and with 53%–55% efficiency at two loci simultaneously in selected clones. The CRISPR-based tools and methods developed here could inform the use of CRISPR/Cas9 in mammalian cell lines, accelerate mammalian cell line engineering, and support advanced recombinant protein production applications.     

Genome Engineering of Drosophila with the CRISPR RNA-Guided Cas9 Nuclease

We have adapted a bacterial CRISPR RNA/Cas9 system to precisely engineer the Drosophila genome and report that Cas9-mediated genomic modifications are efficiently transmitted through the germline. This RNA-guided Cas9 system can be rapidly programmed to generate targeted alleles for probing gene function in Drosophila.