1
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Strohkendl I, Saha A, Moy C, Nguyen AH, Ahsan M, Russell R, Palermo G, Taylor DW. Cas12a domain flexibility guides R-loop formation and forces RuvC resetting. Mol Cell 2024; 84:2717-2731.e6. [PMID: 38955179 PMCID: PMC11283365 DOI: 10.1016/j.molcel.2024.06.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2023] [Revised: 05/17/2024] [Accepted: 06/07/2024] [Indexed: 07/04/2024]
Abstract
The specific nature of CRISPR-Cas12a makes it a desirable RNA-guided endonuclease for biotechnology and therapeutic applications. To understand how R-loop formation within the compact Cas12a enables target recognition and nuclease activation, we used cryo-electron microscopy to capture wild-type Acidaminococcus sp. Cas12a R-loop intermediates and DNA delivery into the RuvC active site. Stages of Cas12a R-loop formation-starting from a 5-bp seed-are marked by distinct REC domain arrangements. Dramatic domain flexibility limits contacts until nearly complete R-loop formation, when the non-target strand is pulled across the RuvC nuclease and coordinated domain docking promotes efficient cleavage. Next, substantial domain movements enable target strand repositioning into the RuvC active site. Between cleavage events, the RuvC lid conformationally resets to occlude the active site, requiring re-activation. These snapshots build a structural model depicting Cas12a DNA targeting that rationalizes observed specificity and highlights mechanistic comparisons to other class 2 effectors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isabel Strohkendl
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
| | - Aakash Saha
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
| | - Catherine Moy
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
| | - Alexander-Hoi Nguyen
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
| | - Mohd Ahsan
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
| | - Rick Russell
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA; Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Graduate Programs, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
| | - Giulia Palermo
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA; Department of Chemistry, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
| | - David W Taylor
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA; Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Graduate Programs, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA; Center for Systems and Synthetic Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA; LIVESTRONG Cancer Institute, Dell Medical School, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
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2
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Jiao C, Peeck NL, Yu J, Ghaem Maghami M, Kono S, Collias D, Martinez Diaz SL, Larose R, Beisel CL. TracrRNA reprogramming enables direct PAM-independent detection of RNA with diverse DNA-targeting Cas12 nucleases. Nat Commun 2024; 15:5909. [PMID: 39003282 PMCID: PMC11246509 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-50243-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2023] [Accepted: 07/04/2024] [Indexed: 07/15/2024] Open
Abstract
Many CRISPR-Cas immune systems generate guide (g)RNAs using trans-activating CRISPR RNAs (tracrRNAs). Recent work revealed that Cas9 tracrRNAs could be reprogrammed to convert any RNA-of-interest into a gRNA, linking the RNA's presence to Cas9-mediated cleavage of double-stranded (ds)DNA. Here, we reprogram tracrRNAs from diverse Cas12 nucleases, linking the presence of an RNA-of-interest to dsDNA cleavage and subsequent collateral single-stranded DNA cleavage-all without the RNA necessarily encoding a protospacer-adjacent motif (PAM). After elucidating nuclease-specific design rules, we demonstrate PAM-independent RNA detection with Cas12b, Cas12e, and Cas12f nucleases. Furthermore, rationally truncating the dsDNA target boosts collateral cleavage activity, while the absence of a gRNA reduces background collateral activity and enhances sensitivity. Finally, we apply this platform to detect 16 S rRNA sequences from five different bacterial pathogens using a universal reprogrammed tracrRNA. These findings extend tracrRNA reprogramming to diverse dsDNA-targeting Cas12 nucleases, expanding the flexibility and versatility of CRISPR-based RNA detection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chunlei Jiao
- Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI), Helmholtz-Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Würzburg, Germany
| | - Natalia L Peeck
- Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI), Helmholtz-Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Würzburg, Germany
| | - Jiaqi Yu
- Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI), Helmholtz-Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Würzburg, Germany
| | - Mohammad Ghaem Maghami
- Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI), Helmholtz-Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Würzburg, Germany
| | - Sarah Kono
- Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI), Helmholtz-Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Würzburg, Germany
| | - Daphne Collias
- Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI), Helmholtz-Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Würzburg, Germany
| | - Sandra L Martinez Diaz
- Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI), Helmholtz-Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Würzburg, Germany
| | - Rachael Larose
- Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI), Helmholtz-Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Würzburg, Germany
| | - Chase L Beisel
- Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI), Helmholtz-Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Würzburg, Germany.
- Medical Faculty, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
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3
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Xing W, Li D, Wang W, Liu JJG, Chen C. Conformational dynamics of CasX (Cas12e) in mediating DNA cleavage revealed by single-molecule FRET. Nucleic Acids Res 2024:gkae604. [PMID: 38994558 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkae604] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2024] [Revised: 06/25/2024] [Accepted: 06/27/2024] [Indexed: 07/13/2024] Open
Abstract
CasX (also known as Cas12e), a Class 2 CRISPR-Cas system, shows promise in genome editing due to its smaller size compared to the widely used Cas9 and Cas12a. Although the structures of CasX-sgRNA-DNA ternary complexes have been resolved and uncover a distinctive NTSB domain, the dynamic behaviors of CasX are not well characterized. In this study, we employed single-molecule and biochemical assays to investigate the conformational dynamics of two CasX homologs, DpbCasX and PlmCasX, from DNA binding to target cleavage and fragment release. Our results indicate that CasX cleaves the non-target strand and the target strand sequentially with relative irreversible dynamics. The two CasX homologs exhibited different cleavage patterns and specificities. The dynamic characterization of CasX also reveals a PAM-proximal seed region, providing guidance for CasX-based effector design. Further studies elucidate the mechanistic basis for why modification of sgRNA and the NTSB domain can affect its activity. Interestingly, CasX has less effective target search efficiency than Cas9 and Cas12a, potentially accounting for its lower genome editing efficiency. This observation opens a new avenue for future protein engineering.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenjing Xing
- State Key Laboratory of Membrane Biology, Beijing Frontier Research Center for Biological Structure, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Danyuan Li
- State Key Laboratory of Membrane Biology, Beijing Frontier Research Center for Biological Structure, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
- Tsinghua-Peking Center for Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Wenjuan Wang
- Technology Center for Protein Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Jun-Jie Gogo Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Membrane Biology, Beijing Frontier Research Center for Biological Structure, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
- Tsinghua-Peking Center for Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Chunlai Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Membrane Biology, Beijing Frontier Research Center for Biological Structure, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
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4
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Zhou L, Simonian AL. CRISPR/Cas Technology: The Unique Synthetic Biology Genome-Editing Tool Shifting the Paradigm in Viral Diagnostics, Defense, and Therapeutics. Annu Rev Biomed Eng 2024; 26:247-272. [PMID: 38346278 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-bioeng-081723-013033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/05/2024]
Abstract
The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has starkly exposed our significantly limited ability to promptly identify and respond to emergent biological threats. Consequently, there is an urgent need to advance biotechnological methods for addressing both known and unforeseen biological hazards. Recently, the CRISPR/Cas system has revolutionized genetic engineering, enabling precise and efficient synthetic biology applications. Therefore, this review aims to provide a comprehensive introduction to the fundamental principles underlying the CRISPR/Cas system and assess the advantages and limitations of various CRISPR/Cas-based techniques applicable to the detection of, defense against, and treatment of viral infections. These techniques include viral diagnostics, the development of antiviral vaccines, B cell engineering for antibody production, viral activation/interference, and epigenetic modifications. Furthermore, this review delves into the challenges and bioethical considerations associated with use of the CRISPR/Cas system. With the continuous evolution of technology, the CRISPR/Cas system holds considerable promise for addressing both existing and unforeseen biological threats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lang Zhou
- Department of Materials Engineering, Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, USA;
| | - Aleksandr L Simonian
- Department of Materials Engineering, Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, USA;
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5
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Hu H, Liu L, Wei XY, Duan JJ, Deng JY, Pei DS. Revolutionizing aquatic eco-environmental monitoring: Utilizing the RPA-Cas-FQ detection platform for zooplankton. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 929:172414. [PMID: 38631624 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172414] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2023] [Revised: 03/15/2024] [Accepted: 04/10/2024] [Indexed: 04/19/2024]
Abstract
The integration of recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) with CRISPR/Cas technology has revolutionized molecular diagnostics and pathogen detection due to its unparalleled sensitivity and trans-cleavage ability. However, its potential in the ecological and environmental monitoring scenarios for aquatic ecosystems remains largely unexplored, particularly in accurate qualitative/quantitative detection, and its actual performance in handling complex real environmental samples. Using zooplankton as a model, we have successfully optimized the RPA-CRISPR/Cas12a fluorescence detection platform (RPA-Cas-FQ), providing several crucial "technical tips". Our findings indicate the sensitivity of CRISPR/Cas12a alone is 5 × 109 copies/reaction, which can be dramatically increased to 5 copies/reaction when combined with RPA. The optimized RPA-Cas-FQ enables reliable qualitative and semi-quantitative detection within 50 min, and exhibits a good linear relationship between fluorescence intensity and DNA concentration (R2 = 0.956-0.974***). Additionally, we developed a rapid and straightforward identification procedure for single zooplankton by incorporating heat-lysis and DNA-barcode techniques. We evaluated the platform's effectiveness using real environmental DNA (eDNA) samples from the Three Gorges Reservoir, confirming its practicality. The eDNA-RPA-Cas-FQ demonstrated strong consistency (Kappa = 0.43***) with eDNA-Metabarcoding in detecting species presence/absence in the reservoir. Furthermore, the two semi-quantitative eDNA technologies showed a strong positive correlation (R2 = 0.58-0.87***). This platform also has the potential to monitor environmental pollutants by selecting appropriate indicator species. The novel insights and methodologies presented in this study represent a significant advancement in meeting the complex needs of aquatic ecosystem protection and monitoring.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huan Hu
- Chongqing Jiaotong University, Chongqing 400074, China; Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chongqing School of University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing 400714, China
| | - Li Liu
- Key Laboratory of Engineering Biology for Low-Carbon Manufacturing, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin 300308, China
| | - Xing-Yi Wei
- Chongqing Jiaotong University, Chongqing 400074, China; Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chongqing School of University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing 400714, China
| | - Jin-Jing Duan
- Chongqing Miankai Biotechnology Research Institute Co., Ltd., Chongqing 400025, China; School of Public Health, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China
| | - Jiao-Yun Deng
- School of Public Health, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China
| | - De-Sheng Pei
- School of Public Health, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China.
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6
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Xu J, Wang Y, Zhang Y, Wang S, Su N, Chang X, Ren W, Zou Y, Liu S, Li L, Li J, Bao J, Wang Z. Establishment of a RAA-CRISPR Cas12a based diagnostic method for peste des petits ruminants virus N gene and M gene. J Virol Methods 2024; 329:114971. [PMID: 38876255 DOI: 10.1016/j.jviromet.2024.114971] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2024] [Revised: 06/02/2024] [Accepted: 06/04/2024] [Indexed: 06/16/2024]
Abstract
Peste des petis ruminants (PPR) is an acute, highly contagious fatal disease affecting both domestic and wild small ruminants, caused by Morbillivirus caprinae (also known as peste des petis ruminants virus (PPRV)). Herein, a rapid method based on recombinase aided amplification-clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats-Cas12a (RAA-CRISPR Cas12a) to detect PPRV was developed. CRISPR RNAs and RAA primers for PPRV-N (nucleocapsid) and PPRV-M (matrix) fragments were designed. The reaction system was constructed following screening and optimization. Detection could be completed within in 50minutes at 37°C. Detection of gradient dilutions of plasmids carrying of PPRV N and M gene fragments indicated a minimum limit of detection of 10 copies/μL. There were no cross-reactions with related viruses and all tested lineages of PPRV were detected successfully. The method also showed good repeatability. The detection of clinical samples (previously detected using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)) indicated good consistency between the RAA-CRISPR Cas12a method and RT-PCR. Thus, the RAA-CRISPR Cas12a method for rapid PPRV diagnosis has strong specificity, high sensitivity, and stable repeatability. Moreover, the results can be observed visually under blue or UV light or using lateral flow strips without complex instruments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiao Xu
- China Animal Health and Epidemiology Center, Qingdao, China
| | - Yingli Wang
- China Animal Health and Epidemiology Center, Qingdao, China
| | | | - Shujuan Wang
- China Animal Health and Epidemiology Center, Qingdao, China
| | - Na Su
- Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, China
| | - Xing Chang
- China Animal Health and Epidemiology Center, Qingdao, China
| | - Weijie Ren
- China Animal Health and Epidemiology Center, Qingdao, China
| | - Yanli Zou
- China Animal Health and Epidemiology Center, Qingdao, China
| | - Shan Liu
- China Animal Health and Epidemiology Center, Qingdao, China
| | - Lin Li
- China Animal Health and Epidemiology Center, Qingdao, China
| | - Jinming Li
- China Animal Health and Epidemiology Center, Qingdao, China
| | - Jingyue Bao
- China Animal Health and Epidemiology Center, Qingdao, China
| | - Zhiliang Wang
- China Animal Health and Epidemiology Center, Qingdao, China.
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7
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Olivi L, Bagchus C, Pool V, Bekkering E, Speckner K, Offerhaus H, Wu W, Depken M, Martens KA, Staals RJ, Hohlbein J. Live-cell imaging reveals the trade-off between target search flexibility and efficiency for Cas9 and Cas12a. Nucleic Acids Res 2024; 52:5241-5256. [PMID: 38647045 PMCID: PMC11109954 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkae283] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2023] [Revised: 03/25/2024] [Accepted: 04/04/2024] [Indexed: 04/25/2024] Open
Abstract
CRISPR-Cas systems have widely been adopted as genome editing tools, with two frequently employed Cas nucleases being SpyCas9 and LbCas12a. Although both nucleases use RNA guides to find and cleave target DNA sites, the two enzymes differ in terms of protospacer-adjacent motif (PAM) requirements, guide architecture and cleavage mechanism. In the last years, rational engineering led to the creation of PAM-relaxed variants SpRYCas9 and impLbCas12a to broaden the targetable DNA space. By employing their catalytically inactive variants (dCas9/dCas12a), we quantified how the protein-specific characteristics impact the target search process. To allow quantification, we fused these nucleases to the photoactivatable fluorescent protein PAmCherry2.1 and performed single-particle tracking in cells of Escherichia coli. From our tracking analysis, we derived kinetic parameters for each nuclease with a non-targeting RNA guide, strongly suggesting that interrogation of DNA by LbdCas12a variants proceeds faster than that of SpydCas9. In the presence of a targeting RNA guide, both simulations and imaging of cells confirmed that LbdCas12a variants are faster and more efficient in finding a specific target site. Our work demonstrates the trade-off of relaxing PAM requirements in SpydCas9 and LbdCas12a using a powerful framework, which can be applied to other nucleases to quantify their DNA target search.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lorenzo Olivi
- Laboratory of Microbiology, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Cleo Bagchus
- Laboratory of Microbiology, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
- Laboratory of Biophysics, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Victor Pool
- Laboratory of Microbiology, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
- Laboratory of Biophysics, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Ezra Bekkering
- Laboratory of Biophysics, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Konstantin Speckner
- Laboratory of Biophysics, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Hidde Offerhaus
- Department of Bionanoscience, Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands
| | - Wen Y Wu
- Laboratory of Microbiology, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Martin Depken
- Department of Bionanoscience, Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands
| | - Koen J A Martens
- Laboratory of Biophysics, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Raymond H J Staals
- Laboratory of Microbiology, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Johannes Hohlbein
- Laboratory of Biophysics, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
- Microspectroscopy Research Facility, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
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8
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Xia Y, Rao R, Xiong M, He B, Zheng B, Jia Y, Li Y, Yang Y. CRISPR-Powered Strategies for Amplification-Free Diagnostics of Infectious Diseases. Anal Chem 2024; 96:8091-8108. [PMID: 38451204 DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.3c04363] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/08/2024]
Affiliation(s)
- Yupiao Xia
- State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic and Molecular Physics, Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance in Biological Systems, National Center for Magnetic Resonance in Wuhan, Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences - Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Wuhan 430071, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Ruotong Rao
- State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic and Molecular Physics, Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance in Biological Systems, National Center for Magnetic Resonance in Wuhan, Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences - Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Wuhan 430071, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Mengqiu Xiong
- State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic and Molecular Physics, Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance in Biological Systems, National Center for Magnetic Resonance in Wuhan, Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences - Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Wuhan 430071, China
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210006, China
| | - Bangshun He
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210006, China
| | - Bingxin Zheng
- State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic and Molecular Physics, Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance in Biological Systems, National Center for Magnetic Resonance in Wuhan, Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences - Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Wuhan 430071, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Yanwei Jia
- State-Key Laboratory of Analog and Mixed-Signal VLSI, Institute of Microelectronics, University of Macau, Macau 999078, China
| | - Ying Li
- State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic and Molecular Physics, Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance in Biological Systems, National Center for Magnetic Resonance in Wuhan, Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences - Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Wuhan 430071, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Yunhuang Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic and Molecular Physics, Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance in Biological Systems, National Center for Magnetic Resonance in Wuhan, Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences - Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Wuhan 430071, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
- Optics Valley Laboratory, Hubei 430074, China
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9
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Hsiung CCS, Wilson CM, Sambold NA, Dai R, Chen Q, Teyssier N, Misiukiewicz S, Arab A, O'Loughlin T, Cofsky JC, Shi J, Gilbert LA. Engineered CRISPR-Cas12a for higher-order combinatorial chromatin perturbations. Nat Biotechnol 2024:10.1038/s41587-024-02224-0. [PMID: 38760567 DOI: 10.1038/s41587-024-02224-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2023] [Accepted: 03/28/2024] [Indexed: 05/19/2024]
Abstract
Multiplexed genetic perturbations are critical for testing functional interactions among coding or non-coding genetic elements. Compared to double-stranded DNA cutting, repressive chromatin formation using CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) avoids genotoxicity and is more effective for perturbing non-coding regulatory elements in pooled assays. However, current CRISPRi pooled screening approaches are limited to targeting one to three genomic sites per cell. We engineer an Acidaminococcus Cas12a (AsCas12a) variant, multiplexed transcriptional interference AsCas12a (multiAsCas12a), that incorporates R1226A, a mutation that stabilizes the ribonucleoprotein-DNA complex via DNA nicking. The multiAsCas12a-KRAB fusion improves CRISPRi activity over DNase-dead AsCas12a-KRAB fusions, often rescuing the activities of lentivirally delivered CRISPR RNAs (crRNA) that are inactive when used with the latter. multiAsCas12a-KRAB supports CRISPRi using 6-plex crRNA arrays in high-throughput pooled screens. Using multiAsCas12a-KRAB, we discover enhancer elements and dissect the combinatorial function of cis-regulatory elements in human cells. These results instantiate a group testing framework for efficiently surveying numerous combinations of chromatin perturbations for biological discovery and engineering.
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Affiliation(s)
- C C-S Hsiung
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Urology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Arc Institute, Palo Alto, CA, USA
| | - C M Wilson
- Department of Urology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Arc Institute, Palo Alto, CA, USA
- Tetrad Graduate Program, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | | | - R Dai
- Department of Urology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Arc Institute, Palo Alto, CA, USA
- Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Q Chen
- Department of Cancer Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - N Teyssier
- Biological and Medical Informatics Graduate Program, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - S Misiukiewicz
- Department of Urology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - A Arab
- Arc Institute, Palo Alto, CA, USA
| | - T O'Loughlin
- Department of Urology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - J C Cofsky
- Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - J Shi
- Department of Cancer Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - L A Gilbert
- Department of Urology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
- Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
- Arc Institute, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
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10
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Bhattacharya S, Agarwal A, Muniyappa K. Deciphering the Substrate Specificity Reveals that CRISPR-Cas12a Is a Bifunctional Enzyme with Both Endo- and Exonuclease Activities. J Mol Biol 2024; 436:168550. [PMID: 38575054 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2024.168550] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2023] [Revised: 03/20/2024] [Accepted: 03/21/2024] [Indexed: 04/06/2024]
Abstract
The class 2 CRISPR-Cas9 and CRISPR-Cas12a systems, originally described as adaptive immune systems of bacteria and archaea, have emerged as versatile tools for genome-editing, with applications in biotechnology and medicine. However, significantly less is known about their substrate specificity, but such knowledge may provide instructive insights into their off-target cleavage and previously unrecognized mechanism of action. Here, we document that the Acidaminococcus sp. Cas12a (AsCas12a) binds preferentially, and independently of crRNA, to a suite of branched DNA structures, such as the Holliday junction (HJ), replication fork and D-loops, compared with single- or double-stranded DNA, and promotes their degradation. Further, our study revealed that AsCas12a binds to the HJ, specifically at the crossover region, protects it from DNase I cleavage and renders a pair of thymine residues in the HJ homologous core hypersensitive to KMnO4 oxidation, suggesting DNA melting and/or distortion. Notably, these structural changes enabled AsCas12a to resolve HJ into nonligatable intermediates, and subsequently their complete degradation. We further demonstrate that crRNA impedes HJ cleavage by AsCas12a, and that of Lachnospiraceae bacterium Cas12a, without affecting their DNA-binding ability. We identified a separation-of-function variant, which uncouples DNA-binding and DNA cleavage activities of AsCas12a. Importantly, we found robust evidence that AsCas12a endonuclease also has 3'-to-5' and 5'-to-3' exonuclease activity, and that these two activities synergistically promote degradation of DNA, yielding di- and mononucleotides. Collectively, this study significantly advances knowledge about the substrate specificity of AsCas12a and provides important insights into the degradation of different types of DNA substrates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Supreet Bhattacharya
- Department of Biochemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560012, India
| | - Ankit Agarwal
- Department of Biochemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560012, India
| | - Kalappa Muniyappa
- Department of Biochemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560012, India.
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11
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Blanluet C, Kuo CJ, Bhattacharya A, Santiago JG. Design and Evaluation of a Robust CRISPR Kinetic Assay for Hot-Spot Genotyping. Anal Chem 2024; 96:7444-7451. [PMID: 38684052 DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.3c05657] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/02/2024]
Abstract
Next-generation sequencing offers highly multiplexed and accurate detection of nucleic acid sequences but at the expense of complex workflows and high input requirements. The ease of use of CRISPR-Cas12 assays is attractive and may enable highly accurate detection of sequences implicated in, for example, cancer pathogenic variants. CRISPR assays often employ end-point measurements of Cas12 trans-cleavage activity after Cas12 activation by the target; however, end point-based methods can be limited in accuracy and robustness by arbitrary experimental choices. To overcome such limitations, we develop and demonstrate here an accurate assay targeting a mutation of the epidermal growth factor gene implicated in lung cancer (exon 19 deletion). The assay is based on characterizing the kinetics of Cas12 trans-cleavage to discriminate the mutant from wild-type targets. We performed extensive experiments (780 reactions) to calibrate key assay design parameters, including the guide RNA sequence, reporter sequence, reporter concentration, enzyme concentration, and DNA target type. Interestingly, we observed a competitive reaction between the target and reporter molecules that has important consequences for the design of CRISPR assays, which use preamplification to improve sensitivity. Finally, we demonstrate the assay on 18 tumor-extracted amplicons and 100 training iterations with 99% accuracy and discuss discrimination parameters and models to improve wild type versus mutant classification.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charles Blanluet
- CentraleSupelec─Universite Paris-Saclay, 91190 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, United States
| | - Calvin J Kuo
- Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305, United States
| | - Asmita Bhattacharya
- Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305, United States
| | - Juan G Santiago
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, United States
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12
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Nalefski EA, Kooistra RM, Parikh I, Hedley S, Rajaraman K, Madan D. Determinants of CRISPR Cas12a nuclease activation by DNA and RNA targets. Nucleic Acids Res 2024; 52:4502-4522. [PMID: 38477377 PMCID: PMC11077072 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkae152] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2023] [Revised: 02/13/2024] [Accepted: 02/21/2024] [Indexed: 03/14/2024] Open
Abstract
The RNA-guided CRISPR-associated (Cas) enzyme Cas12a cleaves specific double-stranded (ds-) or single-stranded (ss-) DNA targets (in cis), unleashing non-specific ssDNA cleavage (in trans). Though this trans-activity is widely coopted for diagnostics, little is known about target determinants promoting optimal enzyme performance. Using quantitative kinetics, we show formation of activated nuclease proceeds via two steps whereby rapid binding of Cas12a ribonucleoprotein to target is followed by a slower allosteric transition. Activation does not require a canonical protospacer-adjacent motif (PAM), nor is utilization of such PAMs predictive of high trans-activity. We identify several target determinants that can profoundly impact activation times, including bases within the PAM (for ds- but not ssDNA targets) and sequences within and outside those complementary to the spacer, DNA topology, target length, presence of non-specific DNA, and ribose backbone itself, uncovering previously uncharacterized cleavage of and activation by RNA targets. The results provide insight into the mechanism of Cas12a activation, with direct implications on the role of Cas12a in bacterial immunity and for Cas-based diagnostics.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | - Damian Madan
- Global Health Labs, Inc, Bellevue, WA 98007, USA
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13
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Lei X, Cao S, Liu T, Wu Y, Yu S. Non-canonical CRISPR/Cas12a-based technology: A novel horizon for biosensing in nucleic acid detection. Talanta 2024; 271:125663. [PMID: 38232570 DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2024.125663] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2023] [Revised: 01/04/2024] [Accepted: 01/10/2024] [Indexed: 01/19/2024]
Abstract
Nucleic acids are essential biomarkers in molecular diagnostics. The CRISPR/Cas system has been widely used for nucleic acid detection. Moreover, canonical CRISPR/Cas12a based biosensors can specifically recognize and cleave target DNA, as well as single-strand DNA serving as reporter probe, which have become a super star in recent years in the field of nucleic acid detection due to its high specificity, universal programmability and simple operation. However, canonical CRISPR/Cas12a based biosensors are hard to meet the requirements of higher sensitivity, higher specificity, higher efficiency, larger target scope, easier operation, multiplexing, low cost and diversified signal reading. Then, advanced non-canonical CRISPR/Cas12a based biosensors emerge. In this review, applications of non-canonical CRISPR/Cas12a-based biosensors in nucleic acid detection are summarized. And the principles, peculiarities, performances and perspectives of these non-canonical CRISPR/Cas12a based biosensors are also discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xueying Lei
- . College of Public Health, Zhengzhou University, No. 100 Science Avenue, Zhengzhou City, 450001, PR China
| | - Shengnan Cao
- . College of Public Health, Zhengzhou University, No. 100 Science Avenue, Zhengzhou City, 450001, PR China
| | - Tao Liu
- . College of Public Health, Zhengzhou University, No. 100 Science Avenue, Zhengzhou City, 450001, PR China
| | - Yongjun Wu
- . College of Public Health, Zhengzhou University, No. 100 Science Avenue, Zhengzhou City, 450001, PR China
| | - Songcheng Yu
- . College of Public Health, Zhengzhou University, No. 100 Science Avenue, Zhengzhou City, 450001, PR China.
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14
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Shin J, Kim SR, Xie Z, Jin YS, Wang YC. A CRISPR/Cas12a-Based System for Sensitive Detection of Antimicrobial-Resistant Genes in Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacterales. BIOSENSORS 2024; 14:194. [PMID: 38667187 PMCID: PMC11048238 DOI: 10.3390/bios14040194] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2024] [Revised: 04/04/2024] [Accepted: 04/11/2024] [Indexed: 04/28/2024]
Abstract
Antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) bacteria pose a significant global health threat, and bacteria that produce New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase (NDM) are particularly concerning due to their resistance to most β-lactam antibiotics, including carbapenems. The emergence and spread of NDM-producing genes in food-producing animals highlight the need for a fast and accurate method for detecting AMR bacteria. We therefore propose a PCR-coupled CRISPR/Cas12a-based fluorescence assay that can detect NDM-producing genes (blaNDM) in bacteria. Thanks to its designed gRNA, this CRISPR/Cas12a system was able to simultaneously cleave PCR amplicons and ssDNA-FQ reporters, generating fluorescence signals. Our method was found to be highly specific when tested against other foodborne pathogens that do not carry blaNDM and also demonstrated an excellent capability to distinguish single-nucleotide polymorphism. In the case of blaNDM-1 carrying E. coli, the assay performed exceptionally well, with a detection limit of 2.7 × 100 CFU/mL: 100 times better than conventional PCR with gel electrophoresis. Moreover, the developed assay detected AMR bacteria in food samples and exhibited enhanced performance compared to previously published real-time PCR assays. Thus, this novel PCR-coupled CRISPR/Cas12a-based fluorescence assay has considerable potential to improve current approaches to AMR gene detection and thereby contribute to mitigating the global threat of AMR.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiyong Shin
- Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
| | - Sei Rim Kim
- Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
| | - Zifan Xie
- Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
| | - Yong-Su Jin
- Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
| | - Yi-Cheng Wang
- Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
- Center for Digital Agriculture, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
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15
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Jia HY, Zhang XY, Ye BC, Yin BC. An Orthogonal CRISPR/dCas12a System for RNA Imaging in Live Cells. Anal Chem 2024; 96:5913-5921. [PMID: 38563119 DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.3c05975] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/04/2024]
Abstract
CRISPR/Cas technology has made great progress in the field of live-cell imaging beyond genome editing. However, effective and easy-to-use CRISPR systems for labeling multiple RNAs of interest are still needed. Here, we engineered a CRISPR/dCas12a system that enables the specific recognition of the target RNA under the guidance of a PAM-presenting oligonucleotide (PAMmer) to mimic the PAM recognition mechanism for DNA substrates. We demonstrated the feasibility and specificity of this system for specifically visualizing endogenous mRNA. By leveraging dCas12a-mediated precursor CRISPR RNA (pre-crRNA) processing and the orthogonality of dCas12a from different bacteria, we further demonstrated the proposed system as a simple and versatile molecular toolkit for multiplexed imaging of different types of RNA transcripts in live cells with high specificity. This programmable dCas12a system not only broadens the RNA imaging toolbox but also facilitates diverse applications for RNA manipulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hai-Yan Jia
- Lab of Biosystem and Microanalysis, State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, Shanghai Collaborative Innovation Center for Biomanufacturing Technology, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China
| | - Xin-Yue Zhang
- Lab of Biosystem and Microanalysis, State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, Shanghai Collaborative Innovation Center for Biomanufacturing Technology, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China
| | - Bang-Ce Ye
- Lab of Biosystem and Microanalysis, State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, Shanghai Collaborative Innovation Center for Biomanufacturing Technology, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shihezi University, Xinjiang 832000, China
| | - Bin-Cheng Yin
- Lab of Biosystem and Microanalysis, State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, Shanghai Collaborative Innovation Center for Biomanufacturing Technology, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shihezi University, Xinjiang 832000, China
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16
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Wei H, Liu L, Jiang H, Chen H, Wang Y, Han Y, Rong Z, Wang S. CRISPR/Cas13a-based single-nucleotide polymorphism detection for reliable determination of ABO blood group genotypes. Analyst 2024; 149:2161-2169. [PMID: 38441624 DOI: 10.1039/d3an02248j] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/26/2024]
Abstract
The ABO blood group plays an important role in blood transfusion, linkage analysis, individual identification, etc. Serologic methods of blood typing are gold standards for the time being, which require stable typing antisera and fresh blood samples and are labor intensive. At present, reliable determination of ABO blood group genotypes based on single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) among A, B, and O alleles remains necessary. Thus, in this work, CRISPR/Cas13a-mediated genotyping for the ABO blood group by detecting SNPs between different alleles was proposed. The ABO*O.01.01(c.261delG) allele (G for the A/B allele and del for the O allele) and ABO*B.01(c.796C > A) allele (C for the A/O allele and A for the B allele) were selected to determine the six genotypes (AA, AO, BB, BO, OO, and AB) of the ABO blood group. Multiplex PCR was adapted to simultaneously amplify the two loci. CRISPR/Cas13a was then used to specifically differentiate ABO*O.01.01(c.261delG) and ABO*B.01(c.796C > A) of A, B, and O alleles. Highly accurate determination of different genotypes was achieved with a limit of detection of 50 pg per reaction within 60 min. The reliability of this method was further validated based on its applicability in detecting buccal swab samples with six genotypes. The results were compared with those of serological and sequencing methods, with 100% accuracy. Thus, the CRISPR/Cas13a-mediated assay shows great application potential in the reliable identification of ABO blood group genotypes in a wide range of samples, eliminating the need to collect fresh blood samples in the traditional method.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hongjuan Wei
- Bioinformatics Center of AMMS, Beijing 100850, P. R. China.
| | - Liyan Liu
- Bioinformatics Center of AMMS, Beijing 100850, P. R. China.
| | - Hanji Jiang
- Bioinformatics Center of AMMS, Beijing 100850, P. R. China.
| | - Hong Chen
- Bioinformatics Center of AMMS, Beijing 100850, P. R. China.
| | - Yunxiang Wang
- Bioinformatics Center of AMMS, Beijing 100850, P. R. China.
| | - Yongjun Han
- Bioinformatics Center of AMMS, Beijing 100850, P. R. China.
| | - Zhen Rong
- Bioinformatics Center of AMMS, Beijing 100850, P. R. China.
| | - Shengqi Wang
- Bioinformatics Center of AMMS, Beijing 100850, P. R. China.
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17
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Deng F, Li Y, Yang B, Sang R, Deng W, Kansara M, Lin F, Thavaneswaran S, Thomas DM, Goldys EM. Topological barrier to Cas12a activation by circular DNA nanostructures facilitates autocatalysis and transforms DNA/RNA sensing. Nat Commun 2024; 15:1818. [PMID: 38443394 PMCID: PMC10914725 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-46001-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2023] [Accepted: 02/09/2024] [Indexed: 03/07/2024] Open
Abstract
Control of CRISPR/Cas12a trans-cleavage is crucial for biosensor development. Here, we show that small circular DNA nanostructures which partially match guide RNA sequences only minimally activate Cas12a ribonucleoproteins. However, linearizing these structures restores activation. Building on this finding, an Autocatalytic Cas12a Circular DNA Amplification Reaction (AutoCAR) system is established which allows a single nucleic acid target to activate multiple ribonucleoproteins, and greatly increases the achievable reporter cleavage rates per target. A rate-equation-based model explains the observed near-exponential rate trends. Autocatalysis is also sustained with DNA nanostructures modified with fluorophore-quencher pairs achieving 1 aM level (<1 copy/μL) DNA detection (106 times improvement), without additional amplification, within 15 min, at room temperature. The detection range is tuneable, spanning 3 to 11 orders of magnitude. We demonstrate 1 aM level detection of SNP mutations in circulating tumor DNA from blood plasma, genomic DNA (H. Pylori) and RNA (SARS-CoV-2) without reverse transcription as well as colorimetric lateral flow tests of cancer mutations with ~100 aM sensitivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fei Deng
- Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale Biophotonics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia
| | - Yi Li
- Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia.
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale Biophotonics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia.
| | - Biyao Yang
- Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale Biophotonics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia
| | - Rui Sang
- Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale Biophotonics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia
| | - Wei Deng
- School of Biomedical Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2007, Australia
| | - Maya Kansara
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Darlinghurst, Sydney, NSW, 2011, Australia
- St Vincent's Clinical School, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2011, Australia
- Omico, Australian Genomic Cancer Medicine Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia
| | - Frank Lin
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Darlinghurst, Sydney, NSW, 2011, Australia
- NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Subotheni Thavaneswaran
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Darlinghurst, Sydney, NSW, 2011, Australia
- St Vincent's Clinical School, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2011, Australia
- NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - David M Thomas
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Darlinghurst, Sydney, NSW, 2011, Australia
- St Vincent's Clinical School, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2011, Australia
- Omico, Australian Genomic Cancer Medicine Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia
| | - Ewa M Goldys
- Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale Biophotonics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia
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18
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Liu Z, Xu J, Huang S, Dai W, Zhang W, Li L, Xiao X, Wu T. Gene point mutation information translation and detection: Leveraging single base extension and CRISPR/Cas12a. Biosens Bioelectron 2024; 247:115936. [PMID: 38142668 DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2023.115936] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2023] [Revised: 11/30/2023] [Accepted: 12/15/2023] [Indexed: 12/26/2023]
Abstract
Gene point mutations play a significant role in the development of cancer. Therefore, developing a sensitive, specific, and universally applicable method for detecting gene point mutation is crucial for clinical diagnosis, prognosis, and cancer treatment. Recently, gene point mutation detection methods based on CRISPR/Cas12a detection have emerged. However, existing methods generally lack universality and specificity. In this study, we have developed a CRISPR/Cas12a-based method that combines improved allele-specific polymerase chain reaction and single base extension to translate the point mutation information in the target dsDNA into length information in ssDNA activators to overcome the limitations associated with PAM sequences in the CRISPR/Cas12a system. Our method achieved a detection limit of 0.002% for clinically significant EGFR T790M mutation. The CRISPR/Cas12a system we constructed demonstrates high sensitivity, specificity, and universality in detecting gene point mutations, making it a promising tool for clinical cancer screening.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhujun Liu
- School of Pharmacy, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China
| | - Jie Xu
- School of Pharmacy, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China
| | - Shan Huang
- School of Pharmacy, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China
| | - Wei Dai
- School of Life Science and Technology, Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan, 430023, China
| | - Wei Zhang
- Institute of Reproductive Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China
| | - Longjie Li
- School of Life Science and Technology, Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan, 430023, China
| | - Xianjin Xiao
- Institute of Reproductive Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China
| | - Tongbo Wu
- School of Pharmacy, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China.
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19
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Saha A, Ahsan M, Arantes PR, Schmitz M, Chanez C, Jinek M, Palermo G. An alpha-helical lid guides the target DNA toward catalysis in CRISPR-Cas12a. Nat Commun 2024; 15:1473. [PMID: 38368461 PMCID: PMC10874386 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-45762-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2023] [Accepted: 02/01/2024] [Indexed: 02/19/2024] Open
Abstract
CRISPR-Cas12a is a powerful RNA-guided genome-editing system that generates double-strand DNA breaks using its single RuvC nuclease domain by a sequential mechanism in which initial cleavage of the non-target strand is followed by target strand cleavage. How the spatially distant DNA target strand traverses toward the RuvC catalytic core is presently not understood. Here, continuous tens of microsecond-long molecular dynamics and free-energy simulations reveal that an α-helical lid, located within the RuvC domain, plays a pivotal role in the traversal of the DNA target strand by anchoring the crRNA:target strand duplex and guiding the target strand toward the RuvC core, as also corroborated by DNA cleavage experiments. In this mechanism, the REC2 domain pushes the crRNA:target strand duplex toward the core of the enzyme, while the Nuc domain aids the bending and accommodation of the target strand within the RuvC core by bending inward. Understanding of this critical process underlying Cas12a activity will enrich fundamental knowledge and facilitate further engineering strategies for genome editing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aakash Saha
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California Riverside, 900 University Avenue, Riverside, CA, 52512, USA
| | - Mohd Ahsan
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California Riverside, 900 University Avenue, Riverside, CA, 52512, USA
| | - Pablo R Arantes
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California Riverside, 900 University Avenue, Riverside, CA, 52512, USA
| | - Michael Schmitz
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Christelle Chanez
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Martin Jinek
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Giulia Palermo
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California Riverside, 900 University Avenue, Riverside, CA, 52512, USA.
- Department of Chemistry, University of California Riverside, 900 University Avenue, Riverside, CA, 52512, USA.
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20
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Yin Y, Wen J, Wen M, Fu X, Ke G, Zhang XB. The design strategies for CRISPR-based biosensing: Target recognition, signal conversion, and signal amplification. Biosens Bioelectron 2024; 246:115839. [PMID: 38042054 DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2023.115839] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2023] [Revised: 10/27/2023] [Accepted: 11/11/2023] [Indexed: 12/04/2023]
Abstract
Rapid, sensitive and selective biosensing is highly important for analyzing biological targets and dynamic physiological processes in cells and living organisms. As an emerging tool, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) system is featured with excellent complementary-dependent cleavage and efficient trans-cleavage ability. These merits enable CRISPR system to improve the specificity, sensitivity, and speed for molecular detection. Herein, the structures and functions of several CRISPR proteins for biosensing are summarized in depth. Moreover, the strategies of target recognition, signal conversion, and signal amplification for CRISPR-based biosensing were highlighted from the perspective of biosensor design principles. The state-of-art applications and recent advances of CRISPR system are then outlined, with emphasis on their fluorescent, electrochemical, colorimetric, and applications in POCT technology. Finally, the current challenges and future prospects of this frontier research area are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yao Yin
- State Key Laboratory for Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, China
| | - Jialin Wen
- State Key Laboratory for Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, China
| | - Mei Wen
- State Key Laboratory for Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, China.
| | - Xiaoyi Fu
- Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou Institute of Medicine (HIM), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310022, China.
| | - Guoliang Ke
- State Key Laboratory for Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, China.
| | - Xiao-Bing Zhang
- State Key Laboratory for Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, China.
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21
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Xia X, Chen Q, Zuo T, Liang Z, Xu G, Wei F, Yang J, Hu Q, Zhao Z, Tang BZ, Cen Y. DNA Robots for CRISPR/Cas12a Activity Management and Universal Platforms for Biosensing. Anal Chem 2024; 96:2620-2627. [PMID: 38217497 DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.3c05210] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/15/2024]
Abstract
The CRISPR/Cas12a system is a revolutionary genome editing technique that is widely employed in biosensing and molecular diagnostics. However, there are few reports on precisely managing the trans-cleavage activity of Cas12a by simple modification since the traditional methods to manage Cas12a often require difficult and rigorous regulation of core components. Hence, we developed a novel CRISPR/Cas12a regulatory mechanism, named DNA Robots for Enzyme Activity Management (DREAM), by introducing two simple DNA robots, apurinic/apyrimidinic site (AP site) or nick on target activator. First, we revealed the mechanism of how the DREAM strategy precisely regulated Cas12a through different binding affinities. Second, the DREAM strategy was found to improve the selectivity of Cas12a for identifying base mismatch. Third, a modular biosensor for base excision repair enzymes based on the DREAM strategy was developed by utilizing diversified generation ways of DNA robots, and a multi-signal output platform such as fluorescence, colorimetry, and visual lateral flow strip was constructed. Furthermore, we extended logic sensing circuits to overcome the barrier that Cas12a could not detect simultaneously in a single tube. Overall, the DREAM strategy not only provided new prospects for programmable Cas12a biosensing systems but also enabled portable, specific, and humanized detection with great potential for molecular diagnostics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinyi Xia
- School of Pharmacy, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 211166, China
| | - Qiutong Chen
- School of Pharmacy, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 211166, China
| | - Tongshan Zuo
- School of Pharmacy, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 211166, China
| | - Zhigang Liang
- School of Pharmacy, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 211166, China
| | - Guanhong Xu
- School of Pharmacy, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 211166, China
- Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Medicine, School of Pharmacy, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 211166, China
| | - Fangdi Wei
- School of Pharmacy, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 211166, China
- Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Medicine, School of Pharmacy, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 211166, China
| | - Jing Yang
- School of Pharmacy, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 211166, China
- Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Medicine, School of Pharmacy, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 211166, China
| | - Qin Hu
- School of Pharmacy, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 211166, China
- Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Medicine, School of Pharmacy, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 211166, China
| | - Zheng Zhao
- Clinical Translational Research Center of Aggregation-Induced Emission, The Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, School of Science and Engineering, Shenzhen Institute of Aggregate Science and Technology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518172, China
| | - Ben Zhong Tang
- Clinical Translational Research Center of Aggregation-Induced Emission, The Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, School of Science and Engineering, Shenzhen Institute of Aggregate Science and Technology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518172, China
| | - Yao Cen
- School of Pharmacy, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 211166, China
- Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Medicine, School of Pharmacy, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 211166, China
- Shandong Key Laboratory of Biochemical Analysis, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266042, China
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22
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Hsiung CC, Wilson CM, Sambold NA, Dai R, Chen Q, Misiukiewicz S, Arab A, Teyssier N, O'Loughlin T, Cofsky JC, Shi J, Gilbert LA. Higher-order combinatorial chromatin perturbations by engineered CRISPR-Cas12a for functional genomics. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2023.09.18.558350. [PMID: 37781594 PMCID: PMC10541102 DOI: 10.1101/2023.09.18.558350] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/03/2023]
Abstract
Multiplexed genetic perturbations are critical for testing functional interactions among coding or non-coding genetic elements. Compared to double-stranded DNA cutting, repressive chromatin formation using CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) avoids genotoxicity and is more effective for perturbing non-coding regulatory elements in pooled assays. However, current CRISPRi pooled screening approaches are limited to targeting 1-3 genomic sites per cell. To develop a tool for higher-order ( > 3) combinatorial targeting of genomic sites with CRISPRi in functional genomics screens, we engineered an Acidaminococcus Cas12a variant -- referred to as mul tiplexed transcriptional interference AsCas12a (multiAsCas12a). multiAsCas12a incorporates a key mutation, R1226A, motivated by the hypothesis of nicking-induced stabilization of the ribonucleoprotein:DNA complex for improving CRISPRi activity. multiAsCas12a significantly outperforms prior state-of-the-art Cas12a variants in combinatorial CRISPRi targeting using high-order multiplexed arrays of lentivirally transduced CRISPR RNAs (crRNA), including in high-throughput pooled screens using 6-plex crRNA array libraries. Using multiAsCas12a CRISPRi, we discover new enhancer elements and dissect the combinatorial function of cis-regulatory elements. These results instantiate a group testing framework for efficiently surveying potentially numerous combinations of chromatin perturbations for biological discovery and engineering.
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23
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Kim CH, Lee WJ, Oh Y, Lee Y, Lee HK, Seong JB, Lim KS, Park SJ, Huh JW, Kim YH, Kim KM, Hur JK, Lee SH. Utilization of nicking properties of CRISPR-Cas12a effector for genome editing. Sci Rep 2024; 14:3352. [PMID: 38336977 PMCID: PMC10858195 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-53648-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2023] [Accepted: 02/03/2024] [Indexed: 02/12/2024] Open
Abstract
The CRISPR-Cas nickase system for genome editing has attracted considerable attention owing to its safety, efficiency, and versatility. Although alternative effectors to Cas9 have the potential to expand the scope of genome editing, their application has not been optimized. Herein, we used an enhanced CRISPR-Cas12a nickase system to induce mutations by targeting genes in a human-derived cell line. The optimized CRISPR-Cas12a nickase system effectively introduced mutations into target genes under a specific directionality and distance between nickases. In particular, the single-mode Cas12a nickase system can induce the target-specific mutations with less DNA double-strand breaks. By inducing mutations in the Thymine-rich target genes in single- or dual-mode, Cas12a nickase compensates the limitations of Cas9 nickase and is expected to contribute to the development of future genome editing technologies.
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Grants
- KGM5282322, KGM4562323, KGM5382221 the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB; Research Initiative Program)
- KGM5282322, KGM4562323, KGM5382221 the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB; Research Initiative Program)
- KGM5282322, KGM4562323, KGM5382221 the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB; Research Initiative Program)
- 2022R1A2C4001609, 2020R1C1C1010869, 2021M3A9I4024452 Korean Ministry of Education, Science and Technology
- 2022R1A2C4001609, 2020R1C1C1010869, 2021M3A9I4024452 Korean Ministry of Education, Science and Technology
- 2022R1A2C4001609, 2020R1C1C1010869, 2021M3A9I4024452 Korean Ministry of Education, Science and Technology
- (22A0203L1) the Korean Fund for Regenerative Medicine (KFRM) grant funded by the Korea government (the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Health & Welfare).
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Affiliation(s)
- Chan Hyoung Kim
- National Primate Research Center (NPRC), Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), Cheongju, 28116, Republic of Korea
- Department of Biological Sciences, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, Republic of Korea
| | - Wi-Jae Lee
- Department of Life Science, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, 06974, Republic of Korea
| | - Yeounsun Oh
- Department of Life Science, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, 06974, Republic of Korea
| | - Youngjeon Lee
- National Primate Research Center (NPRC), Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), Cheongju, 28116, Republic of Korea
- Department of Functional Genomics, KRIBB School of Bioscience, Korea University of Science and Technology (UST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea
| | - Hyomin K Lee
- Department of Medicine, Major in Medical Genetics, Graduate School, Hanyang University, Seoul, 04763, Republic of Korea
| | - Jung Bae Seong
- National Primate Research Center (NPRC), Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), Cheongju, 28116, Republic of Korea
| | - Kyung-Seob Lim
- Futuristic Animal Resource and Research Center (FARRC), Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), Cheongju, Republic of Korea
| | - Sang Je Park
- National Primate Research Center (NPRC), Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), Cheongju, 28116, Republic of Korea
| | - Jae-Won Huh
- National Primate Research Center (NPRC), Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), Cheongju, 28116, Republic of Korea
- Department of Functional Genomics, KRIBB School of Bioscience, Korea University of Science and Technology (UST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea
| | - Young-Hyun Kim
- National Primate Research Center (NPRC), Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), Cheongju, 28116, Republic of Korea
| | - Kyoung Mi Kim
- Department of Biological Sciences, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
| | - Junho K Hur
- Department of Genetics, College of Medicine, Hanyang University, Seoul, 04763, Republic of Korea.
- Graduate School of Biomedical Science and Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul, 04763, Republic of Korea.
| | - Seung Hwan Lee
- Department of Life Science, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, 06974, Republic of Korea.
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24
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Badon IW, Oh Y, Kim HJ, Lee SH. Recent application of CRISPR-Cas12 and OMEGA system for genome editing. Mol Ther 2024; 32:32-43. [PMID: 37952084 PMCID: PMC10787141 DOI: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2023.11.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2023] [Revised: 10/27/2023] [Accepted: 11/09/2023] [Indexed: 11/14/2023] Open
Abstract
In 2012, it was discovered that precise gene editing could be induced in target DNA using the reprogrammable characteristics of the CRISPR system. Since then, several studies have investigated the potential of the CRISPR system to edit various biological organisms. For the typical CRISPR system obtained from bacteria and archaea, many application studies have been conducted and have spread to various fields. To date, orthologs with various characteristics other than CRISPR-Cas9 have been discovered and are being intensively studied in the field of gene editing. CRISPR-Cas12 and its varied orthologs are representative examples of genome editing tools and have superior properties in terms of in vivo target gene editing compared with Cas9. Recently, TnpB and Fanzor of the OMEGA (obligate mobile element guided activity) system were identified to be the ancestor of CRISPR-Cas12 on the basis of phylogenetic analysis. Notably, the compact sizes of Cas12 and OMEGA endonucleases allow adeno-associated virus (AAV) delivery; hence, they are set to challenge Cas9 for in vivo gene therapy. This review is focused on these RNA-guided reprogrammable endonucleases: their structure, biochemistry, off-target effects, and applications in therapeutic gene editing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isabel Wen Badon
- Department of Life Science, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 06974, Republic of Korea
| | - Yeounsun Oh
- Department of Life Science, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 06974, Republic of Korea
| | - Ho-Joong Kim
- Department of Chemistry, Chosun University, Gwangju 61452, Republic of Korea.
| | - Seung Hwan Lee
- Department of Life Science, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 06974, Republic of Korea.
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25
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Huang SH, Chen SC, Wu TY, Chen CY, Yu CH. Programmable modulation of ribosomal frameshifting by mRNA targeting CRISPR-Cas12a system. iScience 2023; 26:108492. [PMID: 38125012 PMCID: PMC10730746 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.108492] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2023] [Revised: 09/13/2023] [Accepted: 11/16/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Minus 1 programmed ribosomal frameshifting (-1 PRF) is a conserved translational regulation event essential for critical biological processes, including the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) replication. Efficient trans-modulation of the structured RNA element crucial to -1 PRF will endow the therapeutic application. Here, we demonstrate that CRISPR RNA can stimulate efficient -1 PRF. Assembled CRISPR-Cas12a, but not CRISPR-Cas9, complex further enhances -1 PRF efficiency through its higher capacity to stall translating ribosomes. We additionally perform CRISPR-Cas12a targeting to impair the SARS-CoV-2 frameshifting pseudoknot structure via a focused screening. We demonstrate that targeting CRISPR-Cas12a results in more than 70% suppression of -1 PRF in vitro and about 50% suppression in mammalian cells. Our results show the expanded function of the CRISPR-Cas12 system in modulating -1 PRF efficiency through stalling ribosomes and deforming frameshifting stimulatory signals, which could serve as a new strategy for future coronavirus pandemics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shih-Hong Huang
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
- Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
| | - Shih-Cheng Chen
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
- National Institute of Cancer Research, National Health Research Institutes, Tainan, Taiwan
| | | | - Cheng-Yao Chen
- YD BioLabs, Inc., Hsinchu, Taiwan
- School of Medical Laboratory Science and Biotechnology, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Chien-Hung Yu
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
- Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
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26
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Zhao R, Luo W, Wu Y, Zhang L, Liu X, Li J, Yang Y, Wang L, Wang L, Han X, Wang Z, Zhang J, Lv K, Chen T, Xie G. Unmodificated stepless regulation of CRISPR/Cas12a multi-performance. Nucleic Acids Res 2023; 51:10795-10807. [PMID: 37757856 PMCID: PMC10602922 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkad748] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2023] [Revised: 08/26/2023] [Accepted: 09/01/2023] [Indexed: 09/29/2023] Open
Abstract
As CRISPR technology is promoted to more fine-divided molecular biology applications, its inherent performance finds it increasingly difficult to cope with diverse needs in these different fields, and how to more accurately control the performance has become a key issue to develop CRISPR technology to a new stage. Herein, we propose a CRISPR/Cas12a regulation strategy based on the powerful programmability of nucleic acid nanotechnology. Unlike previous difficult and rigid regulation of core components Cas nuclease and crRNA, only a simple switch of different external RNA accessories is required to change the reaction kinetics or thermodynamics, thereby finely and almost steplessly regulating multi-performance of CRISPR/Cas12a including activity, speed, specificity, compatibility, programmability and sensitivity. In particular, the significantly improved specificity is expected to mark advance the accuracy of molecular detection and the safety of gene editing. In addition, this strategy was applied to regulate the delayed activation of Cas12a, overcoming the compatibility problem of the one-pot assay without any physical separation or external stimulation, and demonstrating great potential for fine-grained control of CRISPR. This simple but powerful CRISPR regulation strategy without any component modification has pioneering flexibility and versatility, and will unlock the potential for deeper applications of CRISPR technology in many finely divided fields.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rong Zhao
- Key Laboratory of Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics (Chinese Ministry of Education), College of Laboratory Medicine, Chongqing Medical Laboratory Microfluidics and SPRi Engineering Research Center, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, PR China
| | - Wang Luo
- Key Laboratory of Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics (Chinese Ministry of Education), College of Laboratory Medicine, Chongqing Medical Laboratory Microfluidics and SPRi Engineering Research Center, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, PR China
| | - You Wu
- Key Laboratory of Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics (Chinese Ministry of Education), College of Laboratory Medicine, Chongqing Medical Laboratory Microfluidics and SPRi Engineering Research Center, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, PR China
| | - Li Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics (Chinese Ministry of Education), College of Laboratory Medicine, Chongqing Medical Laboratory Microfluidics and SPRi Engineering Research Center, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, PR China
| | - Xin Liu
- Key Laboratory of Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics (Chinese Ministry of Education), College of Laboratory Medicine, Chongqing Medical Laboratory Microfluidics and SPRi Engineering Research Center, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, PR China
| | - Junjie Li
- Key Laboratory of Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics (Chinese Ministry of Education), College of Laboratory Medicine, Chongqing Medical Laboratory Microfluidics and SPRi Engineering Research Center, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, PR China
| | - Yujun Yang
- Key Laboratory of Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics (Chinese Ministry of Education), College of Laboratory Medicine, Chongqing Medical Laboratory Microfluidics and SPRi Engineering Research Center, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, PR China
| | - Li Wang
- The Center for Clinical Molecular Medical Detection, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, PR China
| | - Luojia Wang
- Key Laboratory of Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics (Chinese Ministry of Education), College of Laboratory Medicine, Chongqing Medical Laboratory Microfluidics and SPRi Engineering Research Center, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, PR China
| | - Xiaole Han
- Key Laboratory of Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics (Chinese Ministry of Education), College of Laboratory Medicine, Chongqing Medical Laboratory Microfluidics and SPRi Engineering Research Center, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, PR China
| | - Zhongzhong Wang
- Key Laboratory of Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics (Chinese Ministry of Education), College of Laboratory Medicine, Chongqing Medical Laboratory Microfluidics and SPRi Engineering Research Center, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, PR China
| | - Jianhong Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics (Chinese Ministry of Education), College of Laboratory Medicine, Chongqing Medical Laboratory Microfluidics and SPRi Engineering Research Center, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, PR China
| | - Ke Lv
- Department of Neurosurgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, PR China
| | - Tingmei Chen
- Key Laboratory of Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics (Chinese Ministry of Education), College of Laboratory Medicine, Chongqing Medical Laboratory Microfluidics and SPRi Engineering Research Center, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, PR China
| | - Guoming Xie
- Key Laboratory of Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics (Chinese Ministry of Education), College of Laboratory Medicine, Chongqing Medical Laboratory Microfluidics and SPRi Engineering Research Center, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, PR China
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27
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Singh J, Liu KG, Allen A, Jiang W, Qin PZ. A DNA unwinding equilibrium serves as a checkpoint for CRISPR-Cas12a target discrimination. Nucleic Acids Res 2023; 51:8730-8743. [PMID: 37522352 PMCID: PMC10484686 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkad636] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2023] [Revised: 07/12/2023] [Accepted: 07/18/2023] [Indexed: 08/01/2023] Open
Abstract
CRISPR-associated proteins such as Cas9 and Cas12a are programable RNA-guided nucleases that have emerged as powerful tools for genome manipulation and molecular diagnostics. However, these enzymes are prone to cleaving off-target sequences that contain mismatches between the RNA guide and DNA protospacer. In comparison to Cas9, Cas12a has demonstrated distinct sensitivity to protospacer-adjacent-motif (PAM) distal mismatches, and the molecular basis of Cas12a's enhanced target discrimination is of great interest. In this study, we investigated the mechanism of Cas12a target recognition using a combination of site-directed spin labeling, fluorescent spectroscopy, and enzyme kinetics. With a fully matched RNA guide, the data revealed an inherent equilibrium between a DNA unwound state and a DNA-paired duplex-like state. Experiments with off-target RNA guides and pre-nicked DNA substrates identified the PAM-distal DNA unwinding equilibrium as a mismatch sensing checkpoint prior to the first step of DNA cleavage. The finding sheds light on the distinct targeting mechanism of Cas12a and may better inform CRISPR based biotechnology developments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jaideep Singh
- Department of Chemistry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA
| | - Kevin G Liu
- Department of Chemistry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA
| | - Aleique Allen
- Department of Chemistry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA
| | - Wei Jiang
- Department of Chemistry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA
| | - Peter Z Qin
- Department of Chemistry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA
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28
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Rananaware SR, Vesco EK, Shoemaker GM, Anekar SS, Sandoval LSW, Meister KS, Macaluso NC, Nguyen LT, Jain PK. Programmable RNA detection with CRISPR-Cas12a. Nat Commun 2023; 14:5409. [PMID: 37669948 PMCID: PMC10480431 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41006-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2023] [Accepted: 08/21/2023] [Indexed: 09/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Cas12a, a CRISPR-associated protein complex, has an inherent ability to cleave DNA substrates and is utilized in diagnostic tools to identify DNA molecules. We demonstrate that multiple orthologs of Cas12a activate trans-cleavage in the presence of split activators. Specifically, the PAM-distal region of the crRNA recognizes RNA targets provided that the PAM-proximal seed region has a DNA target. Our method, Split Activator for Highly Accessible RNA Analysis (SAHARA), detects picomolar concentrations of RNA without sample amplification, reverse-transcription, or strand-displacement by simply supplying a short DNA sequence complementary to the seed region. Beyond RNA detection, SAHARA outperforms wild-type CRISPR-Cas12a in specificity towards point-mutations and can detect multiple RNA and DNA targets in pooled crRNA/Cas12a arrays via distinct PAM-proximal seed DNAs. In conclusion, SAHARA is a simple, yet powerful nucleic acid detection platform based on Cas12a that can be applied in a multiplexed fashion and potentially be expanded to other CRISPR-Cas enzymes.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Emma K Vesco
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
- Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Grace M Shoemaker
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
| | - Swapnil S Anekar
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
| | | | - Katelyn S Meister
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
| | - Nicolas C Macaluso
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
| | - Long T Nguyen
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
| | - Piyush K Jain
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
- Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
- UF Health Cancer Center, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
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29
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Wei J, Wang W, Yu Q, Zhang M, Xue F, Fan B, Zhang T, Gao Y, Li J, Meng X, Pang B. MASTR Pouch: Palm-size lab for point-of-care detection of Mpox using recombinase polymerase amplification and CRISPR technology. SENSORS AND ACTUATORS. B, CHEMICAL 2023; 390:133950. [PMID: 37193119 PMCID: PMC10164292 DOI: 10.1016/j.snb.2023.133950] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2023] [Revised: 04/18/2023] [Accepted: 05/06/2023] [Indexed: 05/18/2023]
Abstract
Mpox (formerly referred as Monkeypox) outbreak has been declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. However, traditional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) diagnostic technology is not ideal for on-site applications. To conduct the sample-to-result Mpox viral particles detection outside the laboratories, we developed an easy-to-operate palm-size pouch, termed Mpox At-home Self-Test and point-of-caRe Pouch (MASTR Pouch). In this MASTR Pouch, the fast and accurate visualization was achieved by incorporating recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) with clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/Cas12a system. From viral particle lysis to naked eye readout, MASTR Pouch required only four simple steps to accomplish the analysis process within 35 min. Fifty-three Mpox pseudo-viral particles in exudate (10.6 particles/μL) were able to be detected. To verify the practicability, 104 mock Mpox clinical exudate specimens were tested. The clinical sensitivities were determined to be 91.7%- 95.8%. There was no false-positive result, validating the 100% clinical specificity. MASTR Pouch approaches the WHO's ASSURD criteria for point-of-care diagnostic, which will be beneficial for mitigating Mpox's global spread. The versatility potential of MASTR Pouch could further revolutionize infection diagnosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jia Wei
- Department of Thyroid Surgery, General Surgery Center, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin 130021, PR China
| | - Wanjun Wang
- Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Joint Laboratory for Contaminants Exposure and Health, Guangzhou 510006, PR China
- School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Institute of Environmental Health and Pollution Control, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, PR China
| | - Qiong Yu
- School of Public Health, Jilin University, Changchun 130021, PR China
| | - Mingrui Zhang
- Department of Dermatology, The Second Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130000, PR China
| | - Fengyu Xue
- School of Public Health, Jilin University, Changchun 130021, PR China
| | - Beibei Fan
- School of Public Health, Jilin University, Changchun 130021, PR China
| | - Tong Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Integrated Optoelectronics, College of Electronic Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, PR China
| | - Yanpeng Gao
- Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Joint Laboratory for Contaminants Exposure and Health, Guangzhou 510006, PR China
- School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Institute of Environmental Health and Pollution Control, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, PR China
| | - Juan Li
- School of Public Health, Jilin University, Changchun 130021, PR China
| | - Xianying Meng
- Department of Thyroid Surgery, General Surgery Center, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin 130021, PR China
| | - Bo Pang
- School of Public Health, Jilin University, Changchun 130021, PR China
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30
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Chu J, Romero A, Taulbee J, Aran K. Development of Single Molecule Techniques for Sensing and Manipulation of CRISPR and Polymerase Enzymes. SMALL (WEINHEIM AN DER BERGSTRASSE, GERMANY) 2023; 19:e2300328. [PMID: 37226388 PMCID: PMC10524706 DOI: 10.1002/smll.202300328] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2023] [Revised: 03/20/2023] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) and polymerases are powerful enzymes and their diverse applications in genomics, proteomics, and transcriptomics have revolutionized the biotechnology industry today. CRISPR has been widely adopted for genomic editing applications and Polymerases can efficiently amplify genomic transcripts via polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Further investigations into these enzymes can reveal specific details about their mechanisms that greatly expand their use. Single-molecule techniques are an effective way to probe enzymatic mechanisms because they may resolve intermediary conformations and states with greater detail than ensemble or bulk biosensing techniques. This review discusses various techniques for sensing and manipulation of single biomolecules that can help facilitate and expedite these discoveries. Each platform is categorized as optical, mechanical, or electronic. The methods, operating principles, outputs, and utility of each technique are briefly introduced, followed by a discussion of their applications to monitor and control CRISPR and Polymerases at the single molecule level, and closing with a brief overview of their limitations and future prospects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Josephine Chu
- Henry E. Riggs School of Applied Life Sciences, Keck Graduate Institute, Claremont, CA, 91711, USA
| | - Andres Romero
- Henry E. Riggs School of Applied Life Sciences, Keck Graduate Institute, Claremont, CA, 91711, USA
| | - Jeffrey Taulbee
- Henry E. Riggs School of Applied Life Sciences, Keck Graduate Institute, Claremont, CA, 91711, USA
| | - Kiana Aran
- Henry E. Riggs School of Applied Life Sciences, Keck Graduate Institute, Claremont, CA, 91711, USA
- Cardea, San Diego, CA, 92121, USA
- University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
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Burkin KM, Ivanov AV, Zherdev AV, Dzantiev BB, Safenkova IV. A Critical Study on DNA Probes Attached to Microplate for CRISPR/Cas12 Trans-Cleavage Activity. BIOSENSORS 2023; 13:824. [PMID: 37622910 PMCID: PMC10452489 DOI: 10.3390/bios13080824] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2023] [Revised: 08/03/2023] [Accepted: 08/15/2023] [Indexed: 08/26/2023]
Abstract
CRISPR/Cas12-based biosensors are emerging tools for diagnostics. However, their application of heterogeneous formats needs the efficient detection of Cas12 activity. We investigated DNA probes attached to the microplate surface and cleaved by Cas12a. Single-stranded (ss) DNA probes (19 variants) and combined probes with double-stranded (ds) and ssDNA parts (eight variants) were compared. The cleavage efficiency of dsDNA-probes demonstrated a bell-shaped dependence on their length, with a cleavage maximum of 50%. On the other hand, the cleavage efficiency of ssDNA probes increased monotonously, reaching 70%. The most effective ssDNA probes were integrated with fluorescein, antibodies, and peroxidase conjugates as reporters for fluorescent, lateral flow, and chemiluminescent detection. Long ssDNA probes (120-145 nt) proved the best for detecting Cas12a trans-activity for all of the tested variants. We proposed a test system for the detection of the nucleocapsid (N) gene of SARS-CoV-2 based on Cas12 and the ssDNA-probe attached to the microplate surface; its fluorescent limit of detection was 0.86 nM. Being united with pre-amplification using recombinase polymerase, the system reached a detection limit of 0.01 fM, thus confirming the effectiveness of the chosen ssDNA probe for Cas12-based biosensors.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Irina V. Safenkova
- A.N. Bach Institute of Biochemistry, Research Centre of Biotechnology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 119071 Moscow, Russia; (K.M.B.); (A.V.I.); (A.V.Z.); (B.B.D.)
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32
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Fei X, Lei C, Ren W, Liu X, Liu C. Regulating the trans-Cleavage Activity of CRISPR/Cas12a by Using an Elongation-Caged Single-Stranded DNA Activator and the Biosensing Applications. Anal Chem 2023; 95:12169-12176. [PMID: 37531567 DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.3c02471] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/04/2023]
Abstract
The CRISPR/Cas12a system exhibits extraordinary capability in the field of biosensing and molecular diagnosis due to its trans-cleavage ability. However, it is still desirable for precise control and programmable regulation of Cas12a trans-cleavage activity to promote the in-depth studies and application expansion of Cas12a-based sensing platforms. In this work, we have developed a new and robust CRISPR/Cas12a regulation mechanism by endowing the activator with the function of caging crRNA ingeniously. Specifically, we constructed an integrated elongation-caged activator (EL-activator) by extending the ssDNA activator on the 3'-end. We found that appending only about 8 nt that is complementary to the crRNA repeat region is enough to cage the crRNA spacer/repeat region, thus effectively inhibiting Cas12a trans-cleavage activity. The inner inhibition mechanism was further uncovered after a thorough investigation, demonstrating that the EL-activator works by impeding the conformation of crRNA required for Cas12a recognition and destroying its affinity with Cas12a. By further switching on the elongated moiety on the EL-activator using target biomarkers, the blocked trans-cleavage activity of Cas12a can be rapidly recovered. Finally, a versatile sensing platform was established based on the EL-activator regulation mechanism, expanding the conventional Cas12a system that only directly recognizes DNA to the direct detection of enzymes and RNA biomarkers. This work has enriched the CRISPR/Cas12a regulation toolbox and expanded its sensing applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinrui Fei
- Key Laboratory of Applied Surface and Colloid Chemistry, Ministry of Education; Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science of Shaanxi Province; School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an 710119, Shaanxi Province, P. R. China
| | - Chao Lei
- Key Laboratory of Applied Surface and Colloid Chemistry, Ministry of Education; Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science of Shaanxi Province; School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an 710119, Shaanxi Province, P. R. China
| | - Wei Ren
- Key Laboratory of Applied Surface and Colloid Chemistry, Ministry of Education; Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science of Shaanxi Province; School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an 710119, Shaanxi Province, P. R. China
| | - Xiaoling Liu
- College of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, P. R. China
| | - Chenghui Liu
- Key Laboratory of Applied Surface and Colloid Chemistry, Ministry of Education; Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science of Shaanxi Province; School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an 710119, Shaanxi Province, P. R. China
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Huang Z, Lyon CJ, Wang J, Lu S, Hu TY. CRISPR Assays for Disease Diagnosis: Progress to and Barriers Remaining for Clinical Applications. ADVANCED SCIENCE (WEINHEIM, BADEN-WURTTEMBERG, GERMANY) 2023; 10:e2301697. [PMID: 37162202 PMCID: PMC10369298 DOI: 10.1002/advs.202301697] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2023] [Revised: 04/24/2023] [Indexed: 05/11/2023]
Abstract
Numerous groups have employed the special properties of CRISPR/Cas systems to develop platforms that have broad potential applications for sensitive and specific detection of nucleic acid (NA) targets. However, few of these approaches have progressed to commercial or clinical applications. This review summarizes the properties of known CRISPR/Cas systems and their applications, challenges associated with the development of such assays, and opportunities to improve their performance or address unmet assay needs using nano-/micro-technology platforms. These include rapid and efficient sample preparation, integrated single-tube, amplification-free, quantifiable, multiplex, and non-NA assays. Finally, this review discusses the current outlook for such assays, including remaining barriers for clinical or point-of-care applications and their commercial development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhen Huang
- National Clinical Research Center for Infectious DiseasesShenzhen Third People's HospitalSouthern University of Science and Technology29 Bulan RoadShenzhenGuangdong518112China
- Center for Cellular and Molecular DiagnosticsTulane University School of Medicine1430 Tulane AveNew OrleansLA70112USA
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular BiologyTulane University School of Medicine1430 Tulane AveNew OrleansLA70112USA
| | - Christopher J. Lyon
- Center for Cellular and Molecular DiagnosticsTulane University School of Medicine1430 Tulane AveNew OrleansLA70112USA
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular BiologyTulane University School of Medicine1430 Tulane AveNew OrleansLA70112USA
| | - Jin Wang
- Tolo Biotechnology Company Limited333 Guiping RoadShanghai200233China
| | - Shuihua Lu
- National Clinical Research Center for Infectious DiseasesShenzhen Third People's HospitalSouthern University of Science and Technology29 Bulan RoadShenzhenGuangdong518112China
| | - Tony Y. Hu
- Center for Cellular and Molecular DiagnosticsTulane University School of Medicine1430 Tulane AveNew OrleansLA70112USA
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular BiologyTulane University School of Medicine1430 Tulane AveNew OrleansLA70112USA
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Singh J, Liu KG, Allen A, Jiang W, Qin PZ. A DNA Unwinding Equilibrium Serves as a Checkpoint for CRISPR-Cas12a Target Discrimination. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.05.16.541046. [PMID: 37292754 PMCID: PMC10245671 DOI: 10.1101/2023.05.16.541046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
CRISPR-associated proteins such as Cas9 and Cas12a are programable RNA-guided nucleases that have emerged as powerful tools for genome manipulation and molecular diagnostics. However, these enzymes are prone to cleaving off-target sequences that contain mismatches between the RNA guide and DNA protospacer. In comparison to Cas9, Cas12a has demonstrated distinct sensitivity to protospacer-adjacent-motif (PAM) distal mismatches, and the molecular basis of Cas12a's enhanced target discrimination is of great interest. In this study, we investigated the mechanism of Cas12a target recognition using a combination of site-directed spin labeling, fluorescent spectroscopy, and enzyme kinetics. With a fully matched RNA guide, the data revealed an inherent equilibrium between a DNA unwound state and a DNA-paired duplex-like state. Experiments with off-target RNA guides and pre-nicked DNA substrates identified the PAM-distal DNA unwinding equilibrium as a mismatch sensing checkpoint prior to the first step of DNA cleavage. The data sheds light on the distinct targeting mechanism of Cas12a and may better inform CRISPR based biotechnology developments.
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Jiao J, Liu Y, Yang M, Zheng J, Liu C, Ye W, Song S, Bai T, Song C, Wang M, Shi J, Wan R, Zhang K, Hao P, Feng J, Zheng X. The engineered CRISPR-Mb2Cas12a variant enables sensitive and fast nucleic acid-based pathogens diagnostics in the field. PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY JOURNAL 2023. [PMID: 37069831 DOI: 10.1111/pbi.14051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2022] [Revised: 03/01/2023] [Accepted: 03/27/2023] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
Existing CRISPR/Cas12a-based diagnostic platforms offer accurate and vigorous monitoring of nucleic acid targets, but have the potential to be further optimized for more efficient detection. Here, we profiled 16 Cas12a orthologs, focusing on their trans-cleavage activity and their potential as diagnostic enzymes. We observed the Mb2Cas12a has more robust trans-cleavage activity than other orthologs, especially at lower temperatures. An engineered Mb2Cas12a-RRVRR variant presented robust trans-cleavage activity and looser PAM constraints. Moreover, we found the existing one-pot assay, which simultaneously performed Recombinase Polymerase Amplification (RPA) and Cas12a reaction in one system, resulted in the loss of single-base discrimination during diagnosis. Therefore, we designed a reaction vessel that physically separated the RPA and Cas12a steps while maintaining a closed system. This isolated but closed system made diagnostics more sensitive and specific and effectively prevented contamination. This shelved Mb2Cas12a-RRVRR variant-mediated assay detected various targets in less than 15 min and exhibited equal or greater sensitivity than qPCR when detecting bacterial pathogens, plant RNA viruses and genetically modified crops. Overall, our findings further improved the efficiency of the current CRISPR-based diagnostic system and undoubtedly have great potential for highly sensitive and specific detection of multiple sample types.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jian Jiao
- College of Horticulture, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, China
- Henan Key Laboratory of Fruit and Cucurbit Biology, Zhengzhou, China
- Peking University Institute of Advanced Agricultural Sciences, Shandong Laboratory of Advanced Agricultural Sciences at Weifang, Weifang, Shandong, China
| | - Yiqi Liu
- College of Horticulture, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, China
| | - Mengli Yang
- College of Horticulture, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, China
| | - Jingcheng Zheng
- College of Horticulture, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, China
| | - Chonghuai Liu
- Zhengzhou Fruit Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou, China
| | - Wenxiu Ye
- Peking University Institute of Advanced Agricultural Sciences, Shandong Laboratory of Advanced Agricultural Sciences at Weifang, Weifang, Shandong, China
| | - Shangwei Song
- College of Horticulture, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, China
| | - Tuanhui Bai
- College of Horticulture, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, China
| | - Chunhui Song
- College of Horticulture, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, China
| | - Miaomiao Wang
- College of Horticulture, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, China
| | - Jiangli Shi
- College of Horticulture, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, China
| | - Ran Wan
- College of Horticulture, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, China
| | - Kunxi Zhang
- College of Horticulture, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, China
| | - Pengbo Hao
- College of Horticulture, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, China
| | - Jiancan Feng
- College of Horticulture, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, China
| | - Xianbo Zheng
- College of Horticulture, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, China
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Sufyan M, Daraz U, Hyder S, Zulfiqar U, Iqbal R, Eldin SM, Rafiq F, Mahmood N, Shahzad K, Uzair M, Fiaz S, Ali I. An overview of genome engineering in plants, including its scope, technologies, progress and grand challenges. Funct Integr Genomics 2023; 23:119. [PMID: 37022538 DOI: 10.1007/s10142-023-01036-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2022] [Revised: 03/20/2023] [Accepted: 03/21/2023] [Indexed: 04/07/2023]
Abstract
Genome editing is a useful, adaptable, and favored technique for both functional genomics and crop enhancement. Over the years, rapidly evolving genome editing technologies, including clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR-associated protein (CRISPR/Cas), transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), and zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs), have shown broad application prospects in gene function research and improvement of critical agronomic traits in many crops. These technologies have also opened up opportunities for plant breeding. These techniques provide excellent chances for the quick modification of crops and the advancement of plant science in the future. The current review describes various genome editing techniques and how they function, particularly CRISPR/Cas9 systems, which can contribute significantly to the most accurate characterization of genomic rearrangement and plant gene functions as well as the enhancement of critical traits in field crops. To accelerate the use of gene-editing technologies for crop enhancement, the speed editing strategy of gene-family members was designed. As it permits genome editing in numerous biological systems, the CRISPR technology provides a valuable edge in this regard that particularly captures the attention of scientists.
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Affiliation(s)
- Muhammad Sufyan
- College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100083, China
| | - Umar Daraz
- State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, Center for Grassland Microbiome, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China
| | - Sajjad Hyder
- Department of Botant, Government College Women University, Sialkot, Pakistan
| | - Usman Zulfiqar
- Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, 63100, Pakistan
| | - Rashid Iqbal
- Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, 63100, Pakistan.
| | - Sayed M Eldin
- Center of Research, Faculty of Engineering, Future University in Egypt, New Cairo, 11835, Egypt
| | - Farzana Rafiq
- School of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, NCEPU, Beijing, China
| | - Naveed Mahmood
- College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100083, China
| | - Khurram Shahzad
- Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing, China
| | - Muhammad Uzair
- National Institute for Genomics and Advanced Biotechnology, Park Road, Islamabad, Pakistan
| | - Sajid Fiaz
- Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, The University of Haripur, Haripur, 22620, Pakistan
| | - Iftikhar Ali
- Center for Plant Sciences and Biodiversity, University of Swat, Charbagh, 19120, Pakistan.
- Department of Genetics and Development, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, 10032, USA.
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37
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Two CRISPR/Cas12a-based methods for fast and accurate detection of single-base mutations. Anal Chim Acta 2023; 1247:340881. [PMID: 36781248 DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2023.340881] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2022] [Revised: 01/13/2023] [Accepted: 01/20/2023] [Indexed: 01/30/2023]
Abstract
Current single-base mutation detection approaches are time-consuming, labor-intensive, and costly. This highlights the critical need for speedy and accurate technology capable of detecting single-base alterations. Using clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/associated protein 12a (CRISPR/Cas12a), two fundamental approaches for getting 100% differentiation of single-base mutations have been established, by which fluorescence signals could be detected for variants but not for wild strains. The first method required both polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and CRISPR/Cas12a cleavage: By introducing a mismatched base at the 3' end of the primers and adjusting the PCR settings, the wild strain strand amplifications were completely blocked prior to CRISPR/Cas12a cleavage. The parameters for Method 1 (PCR + CRISPR/Cas12a) could be easily controlled and adjusted to attain a sensitivity of one copy (about 6 copies μL-1). The second method included isothermal recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) and CRISPR/Cas12a cleavage: By introducing an extra mismatched base adjacent to the single-base mutant site by RPA (IMAS-RPA), the RPA products from the wild strains were rendered incapable of triggering the cleavage activity of CRISPR/Cas12a. Method 2 (IMAS-RPA) was rapid and easy to implement (can be finished within 1 h). Because each method has its own set of advantages, the laboratory environment-appropriate methods can be selected independently. Both approaches are expected to aid in clinical diagnosis to some extent in the near future.
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38
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Karlikow M, Amalfitano E, Yang X, Doucet J, Chapman A, Mousavi PS, Homme P, Sutyrina P, Chan W, Lemak S, Yakunin AF, Dolezal AG, Kelley S, Foster LJ, Harpur BA, Pardee K. CRISPR-induced DNA reorganization for multiplexed nucleic acid detection. Nat Commun 2023; 14:1505. [PMID: 36932065 PMCID: PMC10022571 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-36874-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2022] [Accepted: 02/17/2023] [Indexed: 03/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Nucleic acid sensing powered by the sequence recognition of CRIPSR technologies has enabled major advancement toward rapid, accurate and deployable diagnostics. While exciting, there are still many challenges facing their practical implementation, such as the widespread need for a PAM sequence in the targeted nucleic acid, labile RNA inputs, and limited multiplexing. Here we report FACT (Functionalized Amplification CRISPR Tracing), a CRISPR-based nucleic acid barcoding technology compatible with Cas12a and Cas13a, enabling diagnostic outputs based on cis- and trans-cleavage from any sequence. Furthermore, we link the activation of CRISPR-Cas12a to the expression of proteins through a Reprogrammable PAIRing system (RePAIR). We then combine FACT and RePAIR to create FACTOR (FACT on RePAIR), a CRISPR-based diagnostic, that we use to detect infectious disease in an agricultural use case: honey bee viral infection. With high specificity and accuracy, we demonstrate the potential of FACTOR to be applied to the sensing of any nucleic acid of interest.
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Affiliation(s)
- Margot Karlikow
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 3M2, Canada.
| | - Evan Amalfitano
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 3M2, Canada
| | - Xiaolong Yang
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 3M2, Canada
| | - Jennifer Doucet
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 3M2, Canada
| | - Abigail Chapman
- Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Michael Smith Laboratories, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada
| | - Peivand Sadat Mousavi
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 3M2, Canada
| | - Paige Homme
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 3M2, Canada
| | - Polina Sutyrina
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 3M2, Canada
| | - Winston Chan
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 3M2, Canada
| | - Sofia Lemak
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 3E5, Canada
| | - Alexander F Yakunin
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 3E5, Canada
- Centre for Environmental Biotechnology, School of Natural Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2UW, UK
| | - Adam G Dolezal
- Department of Entomology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA
| | - Shana Kelley
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 3M2, Canada
- Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 3G9, Canada
- Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Arts and Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 3H4, Canada
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, 60611, USA
- Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA
| | - Leonard J Foster
- Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Michael Smith Laboratories, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada
| | - Brock A Harpur
- Department of Entomology, Purdue University, 901 W State Street, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA
| | - Keith Pardee
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 3M2, Canada.
- Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 1A1, Canada.
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Avaro AS, Santiago JG. A critical review of microfluidic systems for CRISPR assays. LAB ON A CHIP 2023; 23:938-963. [PMID: 36601854 DOI: 10.1039/d2lc00852a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Reviewed are nucleic acid detection assays that incorporate clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-based diagnostics and microfluidic devices and techniques. The review serves as a reference for researchers who wish to use CRISPR-Cas systems for diagnostics in microfluidic devices. The review is organized in sections reflecting a basic five-step workflow common to most CRISPR-based assays. These steps are analyte extraction, pre-amplification, target recognition, transduction, and detection. The systems described include custom microfluidic chips and custom (benchtop) chip control devices for automated assays steps. Also included are partition formats for digital assays and lateral flow biosensors as a readout modality. CRISPR-based, microfluidics-driven assays offer highly specific detection and are compatible with parallel, combinatorial implementation. They are highly reconfigurable, and assays are compatible with isothermal and even room temperature operation. A major drawback of these assays is the fact that reports of kinetic rates of these enzymes have been highly inconsistent (many demonstrably erroneous), and the low kinetic rate activity of these enzymes limits achievable sensitivity without pre-amplification. Further, the current state-of-the-art of CRISPR assays is such that nearly all systems rely on off-chip assays steps, particularly off-chip sample preparation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandre S Avaro
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
| | - Juan G Santiago
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
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40
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Rananaware SR, Vesco EK, Shoemaker GM, Anekar SS, Sandoval LSW, Meister KS, Macaluso NC, Nguyen LT, Jain PK. Programmable RNA detection with CRISPR-Cas12a. RESEARCH SQUARE 2023:rs.3.rs-2549171. [PMID: 36824842 PMCID: PMC9949221 DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-2549171/v1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
CRISPR is a prominent bioengineering tool and the type V CRISPR-associated protein complex, Cas12a, is widely used in diagnostic platforms due to its innate ability to cleave DNA substrates. Here we demonstrate that Cas12a can also be programmed to directly detect RNA substrates without the need for reverse transcription or strand displacement. We discovered that while the PAM-proximal "seed" region of the crRNA exclusively recognizes DNA for initiating trans-cleavage, the PAM-distal region or 3'-end of the crRNA can tolerate both RNA and DNA substrates. Utilizing this property, we developed a method named Split Activators for Highly Accessible RNA Analysis or 'SAHARA' to detect RNA sequences at the PAM-distal region of the crRNA by merely supplying a short ssDNA or a PAM containing dsDNA to the seed region. Notably, SAHARA is Mg2+ concentration- and pH-dependent, and it was observed to work robustly at room temperature with multiple orthologs of Cas12a. SAHARA also displayed a significant improvement in the specificity for target recognition as compared to the wild-type CRISPR-Cas12a, at certain positions along the crRNA. By employing SAHARA we achieved amplification-free detection of picomolar concentrations of miRNA-155 and hepatitis C virus RNA. Finally, SAHARA can use a PAM-proximal DNA as a switch to control the trans-cleavage activity of Cas12a for the detection of both DNA and RNA targets. With this, multicomplex arrays can be made to detect distinct DNA and RNA targets with pooled crRNA/Cas12a complexes. In conclusion, SAHARA is a simple, yet powerful nucleic acid detection platform based on Cas12a that can be applied in a multiplexed fashion and potentially be expanded to other CRISPR-Cas enzymes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Santosh R. Rananaware
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
| | - Emma K. Vesco
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
| | - Grace M. Shoemaker
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
| | - Swapnil S. Anekar
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
| | | | - Katelyn S. Meister
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
| | - Nicolas C. Macaluso
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
| | - Long T. Nguyen
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
| | - Piyush K. Jain
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
- Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
- UF Health Cancer Center, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
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41
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Three novel Cas12a orthologs with robust DNA cleavage activity suitable for nucleic acid detection. Gene 2023; 852:147055. [PMID: 36400115 DOI: 10.1016/j.gene.2022.147055] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2022] [Revised: 11/10/2022] [Accepted: 11/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Developing rapid and accurate pathogen detection methods is increasingly important, and CRISPR-Cas system can be optimized for this purpose. CRISPR-Cas12a is a single RNA-guided endonuclease system with the potential for nucleic acid detection. There is a broad diversity among Cas12a nucleases with robust detection capability. Herein, we characterised three Cas12a orthologs (ObCas12a, MbCas12a, and ScCas12a), including cis- and trans-cleavage activities, the identification of PAM, single-base resolution ability, and the application for nucleic acid detection. These Cas12a orthologs displayed robust cis- and trans-cleavage activities, and performed well in terms of specificity and sensitivity for nucleic acid detection. Furthermore, they have subtle differences in single-base resolution and recognised PAM sites in vitro. Therefore, these Cas12a nucleases are candidate proteins for CRISPR-based diagnostic methods. Addition of these enzymes to the nucleic acid detection toolbox will further expand the utility of this powerful technology.
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42
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Rananaware SR, Vesco EK, Shoemaker GM, Anekar SS, Sandoval LSW, Meister KS, Macaluso NC, Nguyen LT, Jain PK. Programmable RNA detection with CRISPR-Cas12a. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.01.29.525716. [PMID: 36778248 PMCID: PMC9915489 DOI: 10.1101/2023.01.29.525716] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
CRISPR is a prominent bioengineering tool and the type V CRISPR-associated protein complex, Cas12a, is widely used in diagnostic platforms due to its innate ability to cleave DNA substrates. Here we demonstrate that Cas12a can also be programmed to directly detect RNA substrates without the need for reverse transcription or strand displacement. We discovered that while the PAM-proximal "seed" region of the crRNA exclusively recognizes DNA for initiating trans- cleavage, the PAM-distal region or 3'-end of the crRNA can tolerate both RNA and DNA substrates. Utilizing this property, we developed a method named Split Activators for Highly Accessible RNA Analysis or 'SAHARA' to detect RNA sequences at the PAM-distal region of the crRNA by merely supplying a short ssDNA or a PAM containing dsDNA to the seed region. Notably, SAHARA is Mg 2+ concentration- and pH-dependent, and it was observed to work robustly at room temperature with multiple orthologs of Cas12a. SAHARA also displayed a significant improvement in the specificity for target recognition as compared to the wild-type CRISPR-Cas12a, at certain positions along the crRNA. By employing SAHARA we achieved amplification-free detection of picomolar concentrations of miRNA-155 and hepatitis C virus RNA. Finally, SAHARA can use a PAM-proximal DNA as a switch to control the trans-cleavage activity of Cas12a for the detection of both DNA and RNA targets. With this, multicomplex arrays can be made to detect distinct DNA and RNA targets with pooled crRNA/Cas12a complexes. In conclusion, SAHARA is a simple, yet powerful nucleic acid detection platform based on Cas12a that can be applied in a multiplexed fashion and potentially be expanded to other CRISPR-Cas enzymes. Abstract Figure
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Affiliation(s)
- Santosh R. Rananaware
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
| | - Emma K. Vesco
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
| | - Grace M. Shoemaker
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
| | - Swapnil S. Anekar
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
| | | | - Katelyn S. Meister
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
| | - Nicolas C. Macaluso
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
| | - Long T. Nguyen
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
| | - Piyush K. Jain
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
- Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
- UF Health Cancer Center, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
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43
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Ma E, Chen K, Shi H, Stahl EC, Adler B, Trinidad M, Liu J, Zhou K, Ye J, Doudna J. Improved genome editing by an engineered CRISPR-Cas12a. Nucleic Acids Res 2022; 50:12689-12701. [PMID: 36537251 PMCID: PMC9825149 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkac1192] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2022] [Revised: 11/23/2022] [Accepted: 11/29/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
CRISPR-Cas12a is an RNA-guided, programmable genome editing enzyme found within bacterial adaptive immune pathways. Unlike CRISPR-Cas9, Cas12a uses only a single catalytic site to both cleave target double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) (cis-activity) and indiscriminately degrade single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) (trans-activity). To investigate how the relative potency of cis- versus trans-DNase activity affects Cas12a-mediated genome editing, we first used structure-guided engineering to generate variants of Lachnospiraceae bacterium Cas12a that selectively disrupt trans-activity. The resulting engineered mutant with the biggest differential between cis- and trans-DNase activity in vitro showed minimal genome editing activity in human cells, motivating a second set of experiments using directed evolution to generate additional mutants with robust genome editing activity. Notably, these engineered and evolved mutants had enhanced ability to induce homology-directed repair (HDR) editing by 2-18-fold compared to wild-type Cas12a when using HDR donors containing mismatches with crRNA at the PAM-distal region. Finally, a site-specific reversion mutation produced improved Cas12a (iCas12a) variants with superior genome editing efficiency at genomic sites that are difficult to edit using wild-type Cas12a. This strategy establishes a pipeline for creating improved genome editing tools by combining structural insights with randomization and selection. The available structures of other CRISPR-Cas enzymes will enable this strategy to be applied to improve the efficacy of other genome-editing proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Enbo Ma
- Innovative Genomics Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Kai Chen
- Innovative Genomics Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Honglue Shi
- Innovative Genomics Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3), University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Elizabeth C Stahl
- Innovative Genomics Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3), University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Ben Adler
- Innovative Genomics Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Marena Trinidad
- Innovative Genomics Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Junjie Liu
- Innovative Genomics Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Kaihong Zhou
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Jinjuan Ye
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Jennifer A Doudna
- Innovative Genomics Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3), University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
- MBIB Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Gladstone Institutes, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94114, USA
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44
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Qiu HY, Ji RJ, Zhang Y. Current advances of CRISPR-Cas technology in cell therapy. CELL INSIGHT 2022; 1:100067. [PMID: 37193354 PMCID: PMC10120314 DOI: 10.1016/j.cellin.2022.100067] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2022] [Revised: 10/12/2022] [Accepted: 10/21/2022] [Indexed: 05/18/2023]
Abstract
CRISPR-Cas is a versatile genome editing technology that has been broadly applied in both basic research and translation medicine. Ever since its discovery, the bacterial derived endonucleases have been engineered to a collection of robust genome-editing tools for introducing frameshift mutations or base conversions at site-specific loci. Since the initiation of first-in-human trial in 2016, CRISPR-Cas has been tested in 57 cell therapy trials, 38 of which focusing on engineered CAR-T cells and TCR-T cells for cancer malignancies, 15 trials of engineered hematopoietic stem cells treating hemoglobinopathies, leukemia and AIDS, and 4 trials of engineered iPSCs for diabetes and cancer. Here, we aim to review the recent breakthroughs of CRISPR technology and highlight their applications in cell therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hou-Yuan Qiu
- Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Medical Research Institute, Frontier Science Center for Immunology and Metabolism, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430071, China
| | - Rui-Jin Ji
- Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Medical Research Institute, Frontier Science Center for Immunology and Metabolism, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430071, China
| | - Ying Zhang
- Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Medical Research Institute, Frontier Science Center for Immunology and Metabolism, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430071, China
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45
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Robertson G, Burger J, Campa M. CRISPR/Cas-based tools for the targeted control of plant viruses. MOLECULAR PLANT PATHOLOGY 2022; 23:1701-1718. [PMID: 35920132 PMCID: PMC9562834 DOI: 10.1111/mpp.13252] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2022] [Revised: 06/09/2022] [Accepted: 07/01/2022] [Indexed: 05/15/2023]
Abstract
Plant viruses are known to infect most economically important crops and pose a major threat to global food security. Currently, few resistant host phenotypes have been delineated, and while chemicals are used for crop protection against insect pests and bacterial or fungal diseases, these are inefficient against viral diseases. Genetic engineering emerged as a way of modifying the plant genome by introducing functional genes in plants to improve crop productivity under adverse environmental conditions. Recently, new breeding technologies, and in particular the exciting CRISPR/Cas (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR-associated proteins) technology, was shown to be a powerful alternative to engineer resistance against plant viruses, thus has great potential for reducing crop losses and improving plant productivity to directly contribute to food security. Indeed, it could circumvent the "Genetic modification" issues because it allows for genome editing without the integration of foreign DNA or RNA into the genome of the host plant, and it is simpler and more versatile than other new breeding technologies. In this review, we describe the predominant features of the major CRISPR/Cas systems and outline strategies for the delivery of CRISPR/Cas reagents to plant cells. We also provide an overview of recent advances that have engineered CRISPR/Cas-based resistance against DNA and RNA viruses in plants through the targeted manipulation of either the viral genome or susceptibility factors of the host plant genome. Finally, we provide insight into the limitations and challenges that CRISPR/Cas technology currently faces and discuss a few alternative applications of the technology in virus research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gaëlle Robertson
- Department of GeneticsStellenbosch UniversityMatielandSouth Africa
- Department of Experimental and Health SciencesUniversitat Pompeu FabraBarcelonaSpain
| | - Johan Burger
- Department of GeneticsStellenbosch UniversityMatielandSouth Africa
| | - Manuela Campa
- Department of GeneticsStellenbosch UniversityMatielandSouth Africa
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46
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Wu Y, Luo W, Weng Z, Guo Y, Yu H, Zhao R, Zhang L, Zhao J, Bai D, Zhou X, Song L, Chen K, Li J, Yang Y, Xie G. A PAM-free CRISPR/Cas12a ultra-specific activation mode based on toehold-mediated strand displacement and branch migration. Nucleic Acids Res 2022; 50:11727-11737. [PMID: 36318259 PMCID: PMC9723625 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkac886] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2022] [Revised: 09/26/2022] [Accepted: 10/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) technology has achieved great breakthroughs in terms of convenience and sensitivity; it is becoming the most promising molecular tool. However, only two CRISPR activation modes (single and double stranded) are available, and they have specificity and universality bottlenecks that limit the application of CRISPR technology in high-precision molecular recognition. Herein, we proposed a novel CRISPR/Cas12a unrestricted activation mode to greatly improve its performance. The new mode totally eliminates the need for a protospacer adjacent motif and accurately activates Cas12a through toehold-mediated strand displacement and branch migration, which is highly universal and ultra-specific. With this mode, we discriminated all mismatch types and detected the EGFR T790M and L858R mutations in very low abundance. Taken together, our activation mode is deeply incorporated with DNA nanotechnology and extensively broadens the application boundaries of CRISPR technology in biomedical and molecular reaction networks.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Zhi Weng
- Key Laboratory of Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics (Chinese Ministry of Education), College of Laboratory Medicine, Chongqing Medical Laboratory Microfluidics and SPRi Engineering Research Center, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, PR China
| | - Yongcan Guo
- Clinical Laboratory of Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital Affiliated to Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, 646000, PR China
| | - Hongyan Yu
- Key Laboratory of Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics (Chinese Ministry of Education), College of Laboratory Medicine, Chongqing Medical Laboratory Microfluidics and SPRi Engineering Research Center, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, PR China
| | - Rong Zhao
- Key Laboratory of Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics (Chinese Ministry of Education), College of Laboratory Medicine, Chongqing Medical Laboratory Microfluidics and SPRi Engineering Research Center, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, PR China
| | - Li Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics (Chinese Ministry of Education), College of Laboratory Medicine, Chongqing Medical Laboratory Microfluidics and SPRi Engineering Research Center, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, PR China
| | - Jie Zhao
- Clinical Molecular Medicine Testing Center, The First Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, No. 1 Youyi Road, Yuzhong District, Chongqing, 400016, PR China
| | - Dan Bai
- Key Laboratory of Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics (Chinese Ministry of Education), College of Laboratory Medicine, Chongqing Medical Laboratory Microfluidics and SPRi Engineering Research Center, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, PR China
| | - Xi Zhou
- Key Laboratory of Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics (Chinese Ministry of Education), College of Laboratory Medicine, Chongqing Medical Laboratory Microfluidics and SPRi Engineering Research Center, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, PR China
| | - Lin Song
- Key Laboratory of Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics (Chinese Ministry of Education), College of Laboratory Medicine, Chongqing Medical Laboratory Microfluidics and SPRi Engineering Research Center, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, PR China
| | - Kena Chen
- Key Laboratory of Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics (Chinese Ministry of Education), College of Laboratory Medicine, Chongqing Medical Laboratory Microfluidics and SPRi Engineering Research Center, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, PR China
| | - Junjie Li
- Correspondence may also be addressed to Junjie Li. ;
| | - Yujun Yang
- Correspondence may also be addressed to Yujun Yang.
| | - Guoming Xie
- To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +86 23 68485240; Fax: +86 23 68485239;
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47
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Wang J, Yang X, Wang X, Wang W. Recent Advances in CRISPR/Cas-Based Biosensors for Protein Detection. Bioengineering (Basel) 2022; 9:bioengineering9100512. [PMID: 36290480 PMCID: PMC9598526 DOI: 10.3390/bioengineering9100512] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2022] [Revised: 09/20/2022] [Accepted: 09/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
CRISPR is an acquired immune system found in prokaryotes that can accurately recognize and cleave foreign nucleic acids, and has been widely explored for gene editing and biosensing. In the past, CRISPR/Cas-based biosensors were mainly applied to detect nucleic acids in the field of biosensing, and their applications for the detection of other types of analytes were usually overlooked such as small molecules and disease-related proteins. The recent work shows that CRISPR/Cas biosensors not only provide a new tool for protein analysis, but also improve the sensitivity and specificity of protein detections. However, it lacks the latest review to summarize CRISPR/Cas-based biosensors for protein detection and elucidate their mechanisms of action, hindering the development of superior biosensors for proteins. In this review, we summarized CRISPR/Cas-based biosensors for protein detection based on their mechanism of action in three aspects: antibody-assisted CRISPR/Cas-based protein detection, aptamer-assisted CRISPR/Cas-based protein detection, and miscellaneous CRISPR/Cas-based methods for protein detection, respectively. Moreover, the prospects and challenges for CRISPR/Cas-based biosensors for protein detection are also discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jing Wang
- Collaborative Innovation Center of NPU, Shanghai 201100, China
- Institute of Medical Research, Northwestern Polytechnical University, 127 West Youyi Road, Xi’an 710072, China
- Research & Development Institute of Northwestern Polytechnical University in Shenzhen, 45 South Gaoxin Road, Shenzhen 518057, China
- Northwestern Polytechnical University Chongqing Technology Innovation Center, Chongqing 400000, China
- Correspondence: (J.W.); (W.W.)
| | - Xifang Yang
- Collaborative Innovation Center of NPU, Shanghai 201100, China
- Institute of Medical Research, Northwestern Polytechnical University, 127 West Youyi Road, Xi’an 710072, China
- Research & Development Institute of Northwestern Polytechnical University in Shenzhen, 45 South Gaoxin Road, Shenzhen 518057, China
- Northwestern Polytechnical University Chongqing Technology Innovation Center, Chongqing 400000, China
| | - Xueliang Wang
- Collaborative Innovation Center of NPU, Shanghai 201100, China
- Institute of Medical Research, Northwestern Polytechnical University, 127 West Youyi Road, Xi’an 710072, China
- Research & Development Institute of Northwestern Polytechnical University in Shenzhen, 45 South Gaoxin Road, Shenzhen 518057, China
- Northwestern Polytechnical University Chongqing Technology Innovation Center, Chongqing 400000, China
| | - Wanhe Wang
- Collaborative Innovation Center of NPU, Shanghai 201100, China
- Institute of Medical Research, Northwestern Polytechnical University, 127 West Youyi Road, Xi’an 710072, China
- Research & Development Institute of Northwestern Polytechnical University in Shenzhen, 45 South Gaoxin Road, Shenzhen 518057, China
- Northwestern Polytechnical University Chongqing Technology Innovation Center, Chongqing 400000, China
- Correspondence: (J.W.); (W.W.)
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48
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Wörle E, Newman A, D’Silva J, Burgio G, Grohmann D. Allosteric activation of CRISPR-Cas12a requires the concerted movement of the bridge helix and helix 1 of the RuvC II domain. Nucleic Acids Res 2022; 50:10153-10168. [PMID: 36107767 PMCID: PMC9508855 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkac767] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2022] [Revised: 08/19/2022] [Accepted: 08/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Nucleases derived from the prokaryotic defense system CRISPR-Cas are frequently re-purposed for gene editing and molecular diagnostics. Hence, an in-depth understanding of the molecular mechanisms of these enzymes is of crucial importance. We focused on Cas12a from Francisella novicida (FnCas12a) and investigated the functional role of helix 1, a structural element that together with the bridge helix (BH) connects the recognition and the nuclease lobes of FnCas12a. Helix 1 is structurally connected to the lid domain that opens upon DNA target loading thereby activating the active site of FnCas12a. We probed the structural states of FnCas12a variants altered in helix 1 and/or the bridge helix using single-molecule FRET measurements and assayed the pre-crRNA processing, cis- and trans-DNA cleavage activity. We show that helix 1 and not the bridge helix is the predominant structural element that confers conformational stability of FnCas12a. Even small perturbations in helix 1 lead to a decrease in DNA cleavage activity while the structural integrity is not affected. Our data, therefore, implicate that the concerted remodeling of helix 1 and the bridge helix upon DNA binding is structurally linked to the opening of the lid and therefore involved in the allosteric activation of the active site.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisabeth Wörle
- Institute of Microbiology & Archaea Centre, Single-Molecule Biochemistry Lab, University of Regensburg, 93053 Regensburg, Germany
| | - Anthony Newman
- Division of Genome Sciences and Cancer, The John Curtin School of Medical Research, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
| | - Jovita D’Silva
- Division of Genome Sciences and Cancer, The John Curtin School of Medical Research, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
| | - Gaetan Burgio
- Division of Genome Sciences and Cancer, The John Curtin School of Medical Research, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
| | - Dina Grohmann
- Institute of Microbiology & Archaea Centre, Single-Molecule Biochemistry Lab, University of Regensburg, 93053 Regensburg, Germany
- Regensburg Center of Biochemistry (RCB), University of Regensburg, 93053 Regensburg, Germany
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49
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Danila F, Schreiber T, Ermakova M, Hua L, Vlad D, Lo S, Chen Y, Lambret‐Frotte J, Hermanns AS, Athmer B, von Caemmerer S, Yu S, Hibberd JM, Tissier A, Furbank RT, Kelly S, Langdale JA. A single promoter-TALE system for tissue-specific and tuneable expression of multiple genes in rice. PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY JOURNAL 2022; 20:1786-1806. [PMID: 35639605 PMCID: PMC9398400 DOI: 10.1111/pbi.13864] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2022] [Revised: 05/06/2022] [Accepted: 05/26/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
In biological discovery and engineering research, there is a need to spatially and/or temporally regulate transgene expression. However, the limited availability of promoter sequences that are uniquely active in specific tissue-types and/or at specific times often precludes co-expression of multiple transgenes in precisely controlled developmental contexts. Here, we developed a system for use in rice that comprises synthetic designer transcription activator-like effectors (dTALEs) and cognate synthetic TALE-activated promoters (STAPs). The system allows multiple transgenes to be expressed from different STAPs, with the spatial and temporal context determined by a single promoter that drives expression of the dTALE. We show that two different systems-dTALE1-STAP1 and dTALE2-STAP2-can activate STAP-driven reporter gene expression in stable transgenic rice lines, with transgene transcript levels dependent on both dTALE and STAP sequence identities. The relative strength of individual STAP sequences is consistent between dTALE1 and dTALE2 systems but differs between cell-types, requiring empirical evaluation in each case. dTALE expression leads to off-target activation of endogenous genes but the number of genes affected is substantially less than the number impacted by the somaclonal variation that occurs during the regeneration of transformed plants. With the potential to design fully orthogonal dTALEs for any genome of interest, the dTALE-STAP system thus provides a powerful approach to fine-tune the expression of multiple transgenes, and to simultaneously introduce different synthetic circuits into distinct developmental contexts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Florence Danila
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis, Plant Sciences Division, Research School of BiologyAustralian National UniversityCanberraAustralian Capital TerritoryAustralia
| | - Tom Schreiber
- Department of Cell and Metabolic BiologyLeibniz Institute of Plant BiochemistryHalleGermany
| | - Maria Ermakova
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis, Plant Sciences Division, Research School of BiologyAustralian National UniversityCanberraAustralian Capital TerritoryAustralia
| | - Lei Hua
- Department of Plant SciencesUniversity of CambridgeCambridgeUK
| | - Daniela Vlad
- Department of Plant SciencesUniversity of OxfordOxfordUK
| | - Shuen‐Fang Lo
- Biotechnology CenterNational Chung Hsing UniversityTaichungTaiwan
| | - Yi‐Shih Chen
- Institute of Molecular BiologyAcademia SinicaTaipeiTaiwan
| | | | - Anna S. Hermanns
- Department of Plant SciencesUniversity of OxfordOxfordUK
- Present address:
Plant Breeding and Genetics Section, School of Integrative Plant ScienceCornell UniversityIthacaNew YorkUSA
| | - Benedikt Athmer
- Department of Cell and Metabolic BiologyLeibniz Institute of Plant BiochemistryHalleGermany
| | - Susanne von Caemmerer
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis, Plant Sciences Division, Research School of BiologyAustralian National UniversityCanberraAustralian Capital TerritoryAustralia
| | - Su‐May Yu
- Biotechnology CenterNational Chung Hsing UniversityTaichungTaiwan
- Institute of Molecular BiologyAcademia SinicaTaipeiTaiwan
| | | | - Alain Tissier
- Department of Cell and Metabolic BiologyLeibniz Institute of Plant BiochemistryHalleGermany
| | - Robert T. Furbank
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis, Plant Sciences Division, Research School of BiologyAustralian National UniversityCanberraAustralian Capital TerritoryAustralia
| | - Steven Kelly
- Department of Plant SciencesUniversity of OxfordOxfordUK
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50
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Naqvi MM, Lee L, Montaguth OET, Diffin FM, Szczelkun MD. CRISPR-Cas12a-mediated DNA clamping triggers target-strand cleavage. Nat Chem Biol 2022; 18:1014-1022. [PMID: 35836018 PMCID: PMC9395263 DOI: 10.1038/s41589-022-01082-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2021] [Accepted: 06/08/2022] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Abstract
Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-Cas12a is widely used for genome editing and diagnostics, so it is important to understand how RNA-guided DNA recognition activates the cleavage of the target strand (TS) following non-target-strand (NTS) cleavage. Here we used single-molecule magnetic tweezers, gel-based assays and nanopore sequencing to explore DNA unwinding and cleavage. In addition to dynamic and heterogenous R-loop formation, we also directly observed transient double-stranded DNA unwinding downstream of the 20-bp heteroduplex and, following NTS cleavage, formation of a hyperstable 'clamped' Cas12a-DNA intermediate necessary for TS cleavage. Annealing of a 4-nucleotide 3' CRISPR RNA overhang to the unwound TS downstream of the heteroduplex inhibited clamping and slowed TS cleavage by ~16-fold. Alanine substitution of a conserved aromatic amino acid in the REC2 subdomain that normally caps the R-loop relieved this inhibition but favoured stabilisation of unwound states, suggesting that the REC2 subdomain regulates access of the 3' CRISPR RNA to downstream DNA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohsin M Naqvi
- DNA-Protein Interactions Unit, School of Biochemistry, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Laura Lee
- DNA-Protein Interactions Unit, School of Biochemistry, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Oscar E Torres Montaguth
- DNA-Protein Interactions Unit, School of Biochemistry, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Fiona M Diffin
- DNA-Protein Interactions Unit, School of Biochemistry, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Mark D Szczelkun
- DNA-Protein Interactions Unit, School of Biochemistry, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
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