Generation of homozygous CRISPRa human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) lines for sustained endogenous gene activation

Abstract

CRISPR/Cas9 technology is a powerful tool, owing to its robust on-target activity and high fidelity. Mutated Cas9 without nuclease activity (dCas9) fused to transcriptional modulators, can function as transcriptional inhibitors or activators (CRISPRa). We generated homozygous human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) lines with an inserted CRISPRa cassette into the AAVS1 locus whilst maintaining pluripotency and genomic integrity, the ability to differentiate into all three germ layers, generate functional cardiomyocytes, and validated Cas9-mediated induction of endogenous gene expression. Our generated hiPSC-CRISPRa offers a valuable tool for studying endogenous transcriptional modulation with single and multiplexed possibilities in all human cell types.