CRISPR base editors: genome editing without double-stranded breaks
Type
ArticleKAUST Department
Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE) DivisionBioscience Program
Center for Desert Agriculture
General Materials
Lab Consumables & Gases
Laboratory for Genome Engineering
Plant Science
Purchasing
Date
2018-06-11Online Publication Date
2018-06-11Print Publication Date
2018-06-15Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/628449
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Show full item recordAbstract
The CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat)/Cas9 adaptive immunity system has been harnessed for genome editing applications across eukaryotic species, but major drawbacks, such as the inefficiency of precise base editing and offtarget activities, remain. A catalytically inactive Cas9 variant (dead Cas9, dCas9) has been fused to diverse functional domains for targeting genetic and epigenetic modifications, including base editing, to specific DNA sequences. As base editing does not require the generation of double-strand breaks, dCas9 and Cas9 nickase have been used to target deaminase domains to edit specific loci. Adenine and cytidine deaminases convert their respective nucleotides into other DNA bases, thereby offering many possibilities for DNA editing. Such base-editing enzymes hold great promise for applications in basic biology, trait development in crops, and treatment of genetic diseases. Here, we discuss recent advances in precise gene editing using different platforms as well as their potential applications in basic biology and biotechnology.Citation
Eid A, Alshareef S, Mahfouz MM (2018) CRISPR base editors: genome editing without double-stranded breaks. Biochemical Journal 475: 1955–1964. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1042/bcj20170793.Sponsors
Research in the M.M.M.'s laboratory for genome engineering is supported by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. We thank members of the genome-engineering laboratory at KAUST for discussions.Publisher
Portland Press Ltd.Journal
Biochemical JournalAdditional Links
http://www.biochemj.org/content/475/11/1955ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1042/bcj20170793
Scopus Count
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as This is an open access article published by Portland Press Limited on behalf of the Biochemical Society and distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND).