Gene activation by a CRISPR-assisted trans enhancer

Elife. 2019 Apr 11:8:e45973. doi: 10.7554/eLife.45973.

Abstract

The deactivated CRISPR/Cas9 (dCas9) is now the most widely used gene activator. However, current dCas9-based gene activators are still limited by their unsatisfactory activity. In this study, we developed a new strategy, the CRISPR-assisted trans enhancer, for activating gene expression at high efficiency by combining dCas9-VP64/sgRNA with the widely used strong CMV enhancer. In this strategy, CMV enhancer DNA was recruited to target genes in trans by two systems: dCas9-VP64/csgRNA-sCMV and dCas9-VP64-GAL4/sgRNA-UAS-CMV. The former recruited trans enhancer by annealing between two short complementary oligonucleotides at the ends of the sgRNA and trans enhancer. The latter recruited trans enhancer by binding between GAL4 fused to dCas9 and UAS sequence of trans enhancer. The trans enhancer activated gene transcription as the natural looped cis enhancer. The trans enhancer could activate both exogenous reporter genes and variant endogenous genes in various cells, with much higher activation efficiency than that of current dCas9 activators.

Keywords: CMV enhancer; CRISPR/dCas9; biochemistry; cell biology; chemical biology; gene activation; human; trans enhancer.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • CRISPR-Associated Protein 9 / metabolism*
  • Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats*
  • Cytomegalovirus / genetics
  • Enhancer Elements, Genetic*
  • Gene Editing / methods*
  • Molecular Biology / methods*
  • Transcriptional Activation*

Substances

  • CRISPR-Associated Protein 9