scholarly journals Base editing in Streptomyces with Cas9-deaminase fusions

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhiyu Zhong ◽  
Junhong Guo ◽  
Liang Deng ◽  
Li Chen ◽  
Jian Wang ◽  
...  

AbstractConventional CRISPR/Cas genetic manipulation has been profitably applied to the genus Streptomyces, the most prolific bacterial producers of antibiotics. However, its reliance on DNA double-strand break (DSB) formation leads to unacceptably low yields of desired recombinants. We have adapted for Streptomyces recently-introduced cytidine base editors (CBEs) and adenine base editors (ABEs) which enable targeted C-to-T or A-to-G nucleotide substitutions, respectively, bypassing DSB and the need for a repair template. We report successful genome editing in Streptomyces at frequencies of around 50% using defective Cas9-guided base editors and up to 100% by using nicked Cas9-guided base editors. Furthermore, we demonstrate the multiplex genome editing potential of the nicked Cas9-guided base editor BE3 by programmed mutation of nine target genes simultaneously. Use of the high-fidelity version of BE3 (HF-BE3) essentially improved editing specificity. Collectively, this work provides a powerful new tool for genome editing in Streptomyces.

Genes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahmuda Binte Monsur ◽  
Gaoneng Shao ◽  
Yusong Lv ◽  
Shakeel Ahmad ◽  
Xiangjin Wei ◽  
...  

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR associated protein 9 (Cas9), a newly developed genome-editing tool, has revolutionized animal and plant genetics by facilitating modification of target genes. This simple, convenient base-editing technology was developed to improve the precision of genome editing. Base editors generate precise point mutations by permanent base conversion at a specific point, with very low levels of insertions and deletions. Different plant base editors have been established by fusing various nucleobase deaminases with Cas9, Cas13, or Cas12a (Cpf1), proteins. Adenine base editors can efficiently convert adenine (A) to guanine (G), whereas cytosine base editors can convert cytosine (C) to thymine (T) in the target region. RNA base editors can induce a base substitution of A to inosine (I) or C to uracil (U). In this review, we describe the precision of base editing systems and their revolutionary applications in plant science; we also discuss the limitations and future perspectives of this approach.


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 319
Author(s):  
Jaiana Malabarba ◽  
Elisabeth Chevreau ◽  
Nicolas Dousset ◽  
Florian Veillet ◽  
Julie Moizan ◽  
...  

Despite recent progress, the application of CRISPR/Cas9 in perennial plants still has many obstacles to overcome. Our previous results with CRISPR/Cas9 in apple and pear indicated the frequent production of phenotypic and genotypic chimeras, after editing of the phytoene desaturase (PDS) gene conferring albino phenotype. Therefore, our first objective was to determine if adding an adventitious regeneration step from leaves of the primary transgenic plants (T0) would allow a reduction in chimerism. Among hundreds of adventitious buds regenerated from a variegated T0 line, 89% were homogeneous albino. Furthermore, the analysis of the target zone sequences of twelve of these regenerated lines (RT0 for “regenerated T0” lines) indicated that 99% of the RT0 alleles were predicted to produce a truncated target protein and that 67% of RT0 plants had less heterogeneous editing profiles than the T0. Base editors are CRISPR/Cas9-derived new genome-editing tools that allow precise nucleotide substitutions without double-stranded breaks. Hence, our second goal was to demonstrate the feasibility of CRISPR/Cas9 base editing in apple and pear using two easily scorable genes: acetolactate synthase—ALS (conferring resistance to chlorsulfuron) and PDS. The two guide RNAs under MdU3 and MdU6 promoters were coupled into a cytidine base editor harboring a cytidine deaminase fused to a nickase Cas9. Using this vector; we induced C-to-T DNA substitutions in the target genes; leading to discrete variation in the amino-acid sequence and generating new alleles. By co-editing ALS and PDS genes; we successfully obtained chlorsulfuron resistant and albino lines in pear. Overall; our work indicates that a regeneration step can efficiently reduce the initial chimerism and could be coupled with the application of base editing to create accurate genome edits in perennial plants.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (11) ◽  
pp. 4040 ◽  
Author(s):  
Waquar A. Ansari ◽  
Sonali U. Chandanshive ◽  
Vacha Bhatt ◽  
Altafhusain B. Nadaf ◽  
Sanskriti Vats ◽  
...  

Over the past decades, numerous efforts were made towards the improvement of cereal crops mostly employing traditional or molecular breeding approaches. The current scenario made it possible to efficiently explore molecular understanding by targeting different genes to achieve desirable plants. To provide guaranteed food security for the rising world population particularly under vulnerable climatic condition, development of high yielding stress tolerant crops is needed. In this regard, technologies upgradation in the field of genome editing looks promising. Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9 is a rapidly growing genome editing technique being effectively applied in different organisms, that includes both model and crop plants. In recent times CRISPR/Cas9 is being considered as a technology which revolutionized fundamental as well as applied research in plant breeding. Genome editing using CRISPR/Cas9 system has been successfully demonstrated in many cereal crops including rice, wheat, maize, and barley. Availability of whole genome sequence information for number of crops along with the advancement in genome-editing techniques provides several possibilities to achieve desirable traits. In this review, the options available for crop improvement by implementing CRISPR/Cas9 based genome-editing techniques with special emphasis on cereal crops have been summarized. Recent advances providing opportunities to simultaneously edit many target genes were also discussed. The review also addressed recent advancements enabling precise base editing and gene expression modifications. In addition, the article also highlighted limitations such as transformation efficiency, specific promoters and most importantly the ethical and regulatory issues related to commercial release of novel crop varieties developed through genome editing.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayako Nishizawa-Yokoi ◽  
Masafumi Mikami ◽  
Seiichi Toki

Homologous recombination-mediated genome editing, also called gene targeting (GT), is an essential technique that allows precise modification of a target sequence, including introduction of point mutations, knock-in of a reporter gene, and/or swapping of a functional domain. However, due to its low frequency, it has been difficult to establish GT approaches that can be applied widely to a large number of plant species. We have developed a simple and universal clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9)-mediated DNA double-strand break (DSB)-induced GT system using an all-in-one vector comprising a CRISPR/Cas9 expression construct, selectable marker, and GT donor template. This system enabled introduction of targeted point mutations with non-selectable traits into several target genes in both rice and tobacco. Since it was possible to evaluate the GT frequency on endogenous target genes precisely using this system, we investigated the effect of treatment with Rad51-stimulatory compound 1 (RS-1) on the frequency of DSB-induced GT. GT frequency was slightly, but consistently, improved by RS-1 treatment in both target plants.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergei Svitashev ◽  
Dave Peterson ◽  
Pierjuigi Barone ◽  
Brian Lenderts ◽  
Chris Schwartz ◽  
...  

Abstract CRISPR-Cas is a powerful DNA double strand break technology with wide-ranging applications in plant genome modification. However, the efficiency of genome editing depends on various factors including plant genetic transformation processes and types of modifications desired. Agrobacterium infection is the preferred method of transformation and delivery of editing components into the plant cell. While this method has been successfully used to generate gene knock-outs in multiple crops, precise nucleotide replacement and especially gene insertion into a pre-defined genomic location remain highly challenging. Here we report an efficient, heritable, selectable marker-free site-specific gene insertion in maize using Agrobacterium-mediated delivery. Advancements in maize transformation and new vector design enabled targeted insertion with frequencies as high as 8–10%. Importantly, these advancements allowed not only an improvement of the frequency but also of the quality of generated events. These results further enable the application of genome editing for trait product development in a wide variety of crop species amenable to Agrobacterium-mediated transformation.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Veillet ◽  
Laura Chauvin ◽  
Marie-Paule Kermarrec ◽  
François Sevestre ◽  
Mathilde Merrer ◽  
...  

AbstractGenome editing has recently become a method of choice for basic research and functional genomics, and holds great potential for molecular plant breeding applications. The powerful CRISPR-Cas9 system that typically produces double-strand DNA breaks is mainly used to generate knockout mutants. Recently, the development of base editors has broadened the scope of genome editing, allowing precise and efficient nucleotide substitutions. In this study, we produced mutants in two cultivated elite cultivars of the tetraploid potato (Solanum tuberosum) using stable or transient expression of the CRISPR-Cas9 components to knockout the amylose-producing StGBSSI gene. We set up a rapid, highly sensitive and cost-effective screening strategy based on high-resolution melting analysis followed by direct Sanger sequencing and trace chromatogram analysis. Most mutations consisted of small indels, but unwanted insertions of plasmid DNA were also observed. We successfully created tetra-allelic mutants with impaired amylose biosynthesis, confirming the loss-of-function of the StGBSSI protein. The second main objective of this work was to demonstrate the proof of concept of CRISPR-Cas9 base editing in the tetraploid potato by targeting two loci encoding catalytic motifs of the StGBSSI enzyme. Using a cytidine base editor (CBE), we efficiently and precisely induced DNA substitutions in the KTGGL-encoding locus, leading to discrete variation in the amino acid sequence and generating a loss-of-function allele. The successful application of base editing in the tetraploid potato opens up new avenues for genome engineering in this species.Key MessageThe StGBSSI gene was successfully and precisely edited in the tetraploid potato using gene and base editing strategies, leading to plants with impaired amylose biosynthesis.


Science ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. eaaw7166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuai Jin ◽  
Yuan Zong ◽  
Qiang Gao ◽  
Zixu Zhu ◽  
Yanpeng Wang ◽  
...  

Cytosine and adenine base editors (CBEs and ABEs) are promising new tools for achieving the precise genetic changes required for disease treatment and trait improvement. However, genome-wide and unbiased analyses of their off-target effects in vivo are still lacking. Our whole genome sequencing (WGS) analysis of rice plants treated with BE3, high-fidelity BE3 (HF1-BE3), or ABE revealed that BE3 and HF1-BE3, but not ABE, induce substantial genome-wide off-target mutations, which are mostly the C→T type of single nucleotide variants (SNVs) and appear to be enriched in genic regions. Notably, treatment of rice with BE3 or HF1-BE3 in the absence of single-guide RNA also results in the rise of genome-wide SNVs. Thus, the base editing unit of BE3 or HF1-BE3 needs to be optimized in order to attain high fidelity.


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