Splice donor site sgRNAs enhance CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knockout efficiency

PLoS One. 2019 May 9;14(5):e0216674. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0216674. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

CRISPR/Cas9 allows the generation of knockout cell lines and null zygotes by inducing site-specific double-stranded breaks. In most cases the DSB is repaired by non-homologous end joining, resulting in small nucleotide insertions or deletions that can be used to construct knockout alleles. However, these mutations do not produce the desired null result in all cases, but instead generate a similar, functionally active protein. This effect could limit the therapeutic efficiency of gene therapy strategies based on abrogating oncogene expression, and therefore needs to be considered carefully. If there is an acceptable degree of efficiency of CRISPR/Cas9 delivery to cells, the key step for success lies in the effectiveness of a specific sgRNA at knocking out the oncogene, when only one sgRNA can be used. This study shows that the null effect could be increased with an sgRNA targeting the splice donor site (SDS) of the chosen exon. Following this strategy, the generation of null alleles would be facilitated in two independent ways: the probability of producing a frameshift mutation and the probability of interrupting the canonical mechanism of pre-mRNA splicing. In these contexts, we propose to improve the loss-of-function yield driving the CRISPR system at the SDS of critical exons.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Alleles
  • Animals
  • Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated Proteins / genetics
  • CRISPR-Cas Systems*
  • Cell Line
  • Exons
  • Gene Editing / methods
  • Gene Knockout Techniques / methods*
  • Humans
  • K562 Cells
  • Mice
  • Monophenol Monooxygenase / genetics
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-abl / genetics
  • RNA Splice Sites / genetics*
  • RNA, Guide, CRISPR-Cas Systems / genetics*

Substances

  • RNA Splice Sites
  • RNA, Guide, CRISPR-Cas Systems
  • Monophenol Monooxygenase
  • ABL1 protein, human
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-abl
  • ATM protein, human
  • Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated Proteins
  • Atm protein, mouse

Grants and funding

This work was mainly supported by a grant from the Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias (FIS) of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) “Una manera de hacer Europa” [grant PI17/01895 to IGT and MSM.]; Junta de Castilla y León, Fondos FEDER [SA085U16 to JMHR]; Novartis grant; and by the Fundación “Jabones para Daniel”. JM Hernández-Sánchez was supported by a research grant from Fundación Española de Hematología y Hemoterapia (FEHH). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.