Biology subjects

Joung, J. K.

Publications and source records attributed to Joung, J. K..

8 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2018

Analysis and comparison of genome editing using CRISPResso2

Genome editing technologies are rapidly evolving, and analysis of deep sequencing data from target or off-target regions is necessary for measuring editing efficiency and evaluating safety. However, no software exists to analyze base editors, perform allele-specific quantification or that incorporates biologically-informed and scalable alignment approaches. Here, we present CRISPResso2 to fill this gap and illustrate its functionality by experimentally measuring and analyzing the editing properties of six genome editing agents.

bioinformatics↗

bioRxiv2018

CRISPR-SURF: Discovering regulatory elements by deconvolution of CRISPR tiling screen data

Tiling screens using CRISPR-Cas technologies provide a powerful approach to map regulatory elements to phenotypes of interest, but computational methods that effectively model these experimental approaches for different CRISPR technologies are not readily available. Here we present CRISPR-SURF, a deconvolution framework to identify functional regulatory regions in the genome from data generated by CRISPR-Cas nuclease, CRISPR interference (CRISPRi), or CRISPR activation (CRISPRa) tiling screens. We validated CRISPR-SURF on previously published and new data, identifying both experimentally validated and new potential regulatory elements. With CRISPR tiling screens now being increasingly used to elucidate the regulatory architecture of the non-coding genome, CRISPRSURF provides a generalizable and accessible solution for the discovery of regulatory elements.

bioinformatics↗

bioRxiv2018

High-precision CRISPR-Cas9 base editors with minimized bystander and off-target mutations

Recently described base editor (BE) technology, which uses CRISPR-Cas9 to direct cytidine deaminase enzymatic activity to specific genomic loci, enables the highly efficient introduction of precise cytidine-to-thymidine (C [->] T) DNA alterations in many different cell types and organisms1-6. In contrast to genome-editing nucleases7-9, BEs avoid the need to introduce double-strand breaks or exogenous donor DNA templates and induce lower levels of unwanted variable-length insertion/deletion mutations (indels)1,2,10. However, existing BEs can also efficiently create unwanted C to T alterations when more than one C is present within the five base pair \"editing window\" of these proteins, a lack of precision that can cause potentially deleterious by ...

molecular biology↗

bioRxiv2018

In vivo CRISPR-Cas gene editing with no detectable genome-wide off-target mutations

CRISPR-Cas genome-editing nucleases hold substantial promise for human therapeutics1-5 but identifying unwanted off-target mutations remains an important requirement for clinical translation6, 7. For ex vivo therapeutic applications, previously published cell-based genome-wide methods provide potentially useful strategies to identify and quantify these off-target mutation sites8-12. However, a well-validated method that can reliably identify off-targets in vivo has not been described to date, leaving the question of whether and how frequently these types of mutations occur. Here we describe Verification of In Vivo Off-targets (VIVO), a highly sensitive, unbiased, and generalizable strategy that we show can robustly identify genome-wide CRISPR-Cas nuclease off-target effects in vivo. To our knowledge, these studies provide the first demonstration that CRISPR-Cas nucleases can induce substantial off-target mutations in vivo, a result we obtained using a deliberately promiscuous guide RNA (gRNA). More importantly, we used VIVO to show that appropriately designed gRNAs can direct efficient in vivo editing without inducing detectable off-target mutations. Our findings provide strong support for and should encourage further development of in vivo genome editing therapeutic strategies.

molecular biology↗

bioRxiv2017

Allele-specific editing of rhodopsin P23H knock-in mice broadens therapeutic potential of CRISPR/Cas for dominant genetic diseases

Treatment strategies for dominantly inherited disorders typically involve silencing or ablating the pathogenic allele. CRISPR/Cas nucleases have shown promise in allele-specific knockout approaches when the dominant allele creates unique protospacer adjacent motifs (PAMs) that can lead to allele restricted targeting. Here, we present a spacer-mediated allele-specific knockout approach that utilizes both SpCas9 variants and truncated single guide RNAs (trusgRNAs) to achieve efficient discrimination of a single-nucleotide mutation in rhodopsin (Rho)-P23H mice, a model of dominant retinitis pigmentosa (RP). We found that approximately 45% of the mutant P23H allele was edited at DNA level, and that the relative RNA expression of wild-type Rho was about 2.8 times more than that of mutant Rho in treated retinas. Furthermore, the progression of photoreceptor cell degeneration in outer nuclear layer was significantly delayed in treated regions of the Rho-P23H retinas at five weeks of age. Our proof-of-concept study therefore outlines a general strategy that could potentially be expanded to examine the therapeutic benefit of allele-specific gene editing approach to treat human P23H patient. Our study also extends allele-specific editing strategies beyond discrimination within the PAM sites, with potentially broad applicability to other dominant diseases.

genetics↗

bioRxiv2017

Enhanced proofreading governs CRISPR-Cas9 targeting accuracy

The RNA-guided CRISPR-Cas9 nuclease from Streptococcus pyogenes (SpCas9) has been widely repurposed for genome editing1-4. High-fidelity (SpCas9-HF1) and enhanced specificity (eSpCas9(1.1)) variants exhibit substantially reduced off-target cleavage in human cells, but the mechanism of target discrimination and the potential to further improve fidelity were unknown5-9. Using single-molecule Forster resonance energy transfer (smFRET) experiments, we show that both SpCas9-HF1 and eSpCas9(1.1) are trapped in an inactive state10 when bound to mismatched targets. We find that a non-catalytic domain within Cas9, REC3, recognizes target mismatches and governs the HNH nuclease to regulate overall catalytic competence. Exploiting this observation, we identified residues within REC3 involved in mismatch sensing and designed a new hyper-accurate Cas9 variant (HypaCas9) that retains robust on-target activity in human cells. These results offer a more comprehensive model to rationalize and modify the balance between target recognition and nuclease activation for precision genome editing.

biochemistry↗

bioRxiv2017

"Unexpected mutations after CRISPR-Cas9 editing in vivo" are most likely pre-existing sequence variants and not nuclease-induced mutations

Schaefer et al. recently advanced the provocative conclusion that CRISPR-Cas9 nuclease can induce off-target alterations at genomic loci that do not resemble the intended on-target site.1 Using high-coverage whole genome sequencing (WGS), these authors reported finding SNPs and indels in two CRISPR-Cas9-treated mice that were not present in a single untreated control mouse. On the basis of this association, Schaefer et al. concluded that these sequence variants were caused by CRISPR-Cas9. This new proposed CRISPR-Cas9 off-target activity runs contrary to previously published work2-8 and, if the authors are correct, could have profound implications for research and therapeutic applications. Here, we demonstrate that the simplest interpretation of Schaefer et al.s data is that the two CRISPR-Cas9-treated mice are actually more closely related genetically to each other than to the control mouse. This strongly suggests that the so-called \"unexpected mutations\" simply represent SNPs and indels shared in common by these mice prior to nuclease treatment. In addition, given the genomic and sequence distribution profiles of these variants, we show that it is challenging to explain how CRISPR-Cas9 might be expected to induce such changes. Finally, we argue that the lack of appropriate controls in Schaefer et al.s experimental design precludes assignment of causality to CRISPR-Cas9. Given these substantial issues, we urge Schaefer et al. to revise or re-state the original conclusions of their published work so as to avoid leaving misleading and unsupported statements to persist in the literature.

molecular biology↗

bioRxiv2017

Inducible, tunable and multiplex human gene regulation using CRISPR-Cpf1-based transcription factors

Targeted and inducible regulation of mammalian gene expression is a broadly important research capability that may also enable development of novel therapeutics for treating human diseases. Here we demonstrate that a catalytically inactive RNA-guided CRISPR-Cpf1 nuclease fused to transcriptional activation domains can up-regulate endogenous human gene expression. We engineered drug-inducible Cpf1-based activators and show how this system can be used to tune the regulation of endogenous gene transcription in human cells. Leveraging the simpler multiplex capability of the Cpf1 platform, we show that we can induce both synergistic and combinatorial gene expression in human cells. Our work should enable the creation of other Cpf1-based gene regulatory fusion proteins and the development of multiplex gene perturbation library screens for understanding complex cellular phenotypes.

molecular biology↗