Application of CRISPR/Cas9-based genome editing in ecotoxicology

Fang Zhao; Xiaofan Ding; Zimeng Liu; Xiao Yan; Yanzhen Chen; Yaxin Jiang; Shunjie Chen; Yuanfang Wang; Tingting Kang; Chun Xie; Mian He; Jing Zheng

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2023.122458

Application of CRISPR/Cas9-based genome editing in ecotoxicology

Environ Pollut. 2023 Nov 1:336:122458. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.122458. Epub 2023 Aug 24.

Authors

Fang Zhao¹, Xiaofan Ding², Zimeng Liu³, Xiao Yan⁴, Yanzhen Chen², Yaxin Jiang³, Shunjie Chen³, Yuanfang Wang³, Tingting Kang³, Chun Xie⁵, Mian He⁶, Jing Zheng⁴

Affiliations

¹ Scientific Research Center, The Seventh Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, China; State Environmental Protection Key laboratory of Environmental Pollution Health Risk Assessment, South China Institute of Environmental Sciences. Ministry of Environmental Protection, Guangzhou, China; School of Public Health, Guizhou Medical University, Guizhou, China.
² Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau, Taipa, Macao SAR, China.
³ Scientific Research Center, The Seventh Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, China.
⁴ State Environmental Protection Key laboratory of Environmental Pollution Health Risk Assessment, South China Institute of Environmental Sciences. Ministry of Environmental Protection, Guangzhou, China.
⁵ School of Public Health, Guizhou Medical University, Guizhou, China.
⁶ Scientific Research Center, The Seventh Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, China. Electronic address: hemian3@mail.sysu.edu.cn.

PMID: 37633433
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.122458

Abstract

Chemicals are widely used and released into the environment, and their degradation, accumulation, migration, and transformation processes in the environment can pose a threat to the ecosystem. The advancement in analytical methods with high-throughput screening of biomolecules has revolutionized the way toxicologists used to explore the effects of chemicals on organisms. CRISPR/Cas is a newly developed tool, widely used in the exploration of basic science and biologically engineered products given its high efficiency and low cost. For example, it can edit target genes efficiently, and save loss of the crop yield caused by environmental pollution as well as gain a better understanding of the toxicity mechanisms from various chemicals. This review briefly introduces the development history of CRISPR/Cas and summarizes the current application of CRISPR/Cas in ecotoxicology, including its application on improving crop yield and drug resistance towards agricultural pollution, antibiotic pollution and other threats. The benefits by applying the CRISPR/Cas9 system in conventional toxicity mechanism studies are fully demonstrated here together with its foreseeable expansions in other area of ecotoxicology. Finally, the prospects and disadvantages of CRISPR/Cas system in the field of ecotoxicology are also discussed.

Keywords: Agricultural pollution; Antibiotic resistance; CRISPR/Cas; Chemical toxicity; Ecotoxicology.

Publication types

Review