Homologous recombination (HR) is often used to achieve targeted gene integration because of its higher precision and operability compared with microhomology-mediated end-joining (MMEJ) or non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ). It appears to be inefficient for gene integration in animal cells and embryos due to occurring only during cell division. Here we developed genome-wide high-throughput screening and a subsequently paired crRNA library screening to search for genes suppressing homology-directed repair (HDR). We found that, in the reporter system, HDR cells with knockdown of SHROOM1 were enriched as much as 4.7-fold than those with control. Down regulating SHROOM1 significantly promoted gene integration in human and mouse cells after cleavage by clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein-9 nuclease (Cas9), regardless of the donor types. The knock-in efficiency of mouse embryos could also be doubled by the application of SHROOM1 siRNA during micro-injection. The increased HDR efficiency of SHROOM1 deletion in HEK293T cells could be counteracted by YU238259, an HDR inhibitor, but not by an NHEJ inhibitor. These results indicated that SHROOM1 was an HDR-suppressed gene and that the SHROOM1 knockdown strategy may be useful for a variety of applications, including gene editing to generate cell lines and animal models for studying gene function and human diseases.
Keywords: CRISPR/Cas9; SHROOM1; gene editing; homologous recombination; knock-in.