Tailor-made gene silencing of Staphylococcus aureus clinical isolates by CRISPR interference

PLoS One. 2018 Jan 29;13(1):e0185987. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0185987. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Preparing the genetically modified organisms have required much time and labor, making it the rate-limiting step but CRISPR/Cas9 technology appearance has changed this difficulty. Although reports on CRISPR/Cas9 technology such as genome editing and CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) in eukaryotes increased, those in prokaryotes especially in Staphylococci were limited. Thus, its potential in the bacteriology remains unexplored. This is attributed to ecological difference between eukaryotes and prokaryotes. Here, we constructed a novel CRISPRi plasmid vector, pBACi for Staphylococcus aureus. The transformation efficiency of S. aureus was ~104 CFU/μg DNA using a vector extracted from dcm negative, which encoded one of DNA modification genes, E. coli. Further, pBACi was introduced into various clinical isolates including that not accepting the conventional temperature-sensitive vector. dcas9 in the vector was expressed throughout the growth phases of S. aureus and this vector decreased various gene mRNA expressions based on the crRNA targeting sequences and altered the knockdown strains' phenotypes. The targeted genes included various virulence and antibiotic resistant genes. Bioinformatics suggest this vector can be introduced into wide range of low-GC Gram-positive bacteria. Because this new CRISPR/Cas9-based vector can easily prepare knockdown strains, we believe the novel vector will facilitate the characterization of the function of genes from S. aureus and other Gram-positive bacteria.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Bacterial Proteins / genetics
  • CRISPR-Cas Systems / genetics
  • Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats
  • Escherichia coli / genetics
  • Gene Editing
  • Gene Knockdown Techniques / methods*
  • Gene Silencing
  • Genetic Vectors / chemical synthesis*
  • Genetic Vectors / genetics
  • Genome, Bacterial
  • Plasmids / genetics
  • RNA, Guide, CRISPR-Cas Systems / genetics
  • Staphylococcal Infections / genetics
  • Staphylococcus aureus / genetics*
  • Staphylococcus aureus / pathogenicity

Substances

  • Bacterial Proteins
  • RNA, Guide, CRISPR-Cas Systems

Grants and funding

MS received a Grant (201322025A) from Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) in Japan(http://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/), and a grant (924711) from Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED)(http://www.amed.go.jp/en/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.