scholarly journals Optimization of T-DNA architecture for Cas9-mediated mutagenesis in Arabidopsis

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baptiste Castel ◽  
Laurence Tomlinson ◽  
Federica Locci ◽  
Ying Yang ◽  
Jonathan D G Jones

ABSTRACTBacterial CRISPR systems have been widely adopted to create operator-specified site-specific nucleases. Such nuclease action commonly results in loss-of-function alleles, facilitating functional analysis of genes and gene families We conducted a systematic comparison of components and T-DNA architectures for CRISPR-mediated gene editing in Arabidopsis, testing multiple promoters, terminators, sgRNA backbones and Cas9 alleles. We identified a T-DNA architecture that usually results in stable (i.e. homozygous) mutations in the first generation after transformation. Notably, the transcription of sgRNA and Cas9 in head-to-head divergent orientation usually resulted in highly active lines. Our Arabidopsis data may prove useful for optimization of CRISPR methods in other plants.

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurens Pauwels ◽  
Rebecca De Clercq ◽  
Jonas Goossens ◽  
Sabrina Iñigo ◽  
Clara Williams ◽  
...  

AbstractReverse genetics uses loss-of-function alleles to interrogate gene function. The advent of CRISPR/Cas9-based gene editing now allows to generate knock-out alleles for any gene and entire gene families. Even in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, gene editing is welcomed as T-DNA insertion lines do not always generate null alleles. Here, we show efficient generation of heritable mutations in Arabidopsis using CRISPR/Cas9 with a workload similar to generating overexpression lines. We obtain Cas9 null-segregants with bi-allelic mutations in the T2 generation. Out of seven new mutant alleles we report here, one allele for GRXS17, the ortholog of human GRX3/PICOT, did not phenocopy previously characterized nulls. Notwithstanding, the mutation caused a frameshift and triggered nonsense-mediated decay. We demonstrate that our workflow is also compatible with a dual sgRNA approach in which a gene is targeted by two sgRNAs simultaneously. This paired nuclease method can result in a more reliable loss-of-function alleles that lack a large essential part of the gene. The ease in the CRISPR/Cas9 workflow should help in the eventual generation of true null alleles of every gene in the Arabidopsis genome, which will advance both basic and applied plant research.One-sentence summaryWe present a dual sgRNA approach to delete Arabidopsis gene 34 fragments in order to obtain reliable functional knock-outs.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renyu Li ◽  
Charles Vavrik ◽  
Cristian H. Danna

AbstractCRISPR-Cas9 has become the preferred gene editing technology to obtain loss-of-function mutants in plants, and hence a valuable tool to study gene function. This is mainly due to the easy reprograming of Cas9 specificity using customizable small non-coding RNAs, and to the ability to target several independent genes simultaneously. Despite these advances, the identification of CRISPR-edited plants remains time and resource consuming. Here, based on the premise that one editing event in one locus is a good predictor of editing event/s in other locus/loci, we developed a CRISPR co-editing selection strategy that greatly facilitates the identification of CRISPR-mutagenized Arabidopsis plants. This strategy is based on targeting the gene/s of interest simultaneously with a proxy of CRISPR-Cas9-directed mutagenesis. The proxy is an endogenous gene whose loss-of-function mutation produces an easy-to-detect visible phenotype that is unrelated to the expected phenotype of the gene/s under study. We tested this strategy via assessing the frequency of co-editing of three functionally unrelated proxies. We found all three proxies predicted the occurrence of mutations in either or both of the other two proxies with efficiencies ranging from 40% to 100%, dramatically reducing the number of plants that need to be screened to identify CRISPR mutants. This selection strategy provides a framework to facilitate gene function studies of gene families as well as the function of single copy genes in polyploid plant species where the identification of multiplex mutants remains challenging.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Davies ◽  
Ling Liu ◽  
Sheng Taotao ◽  
Natasha Tuano ◽  
Richa Chaturvedi ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction Genes contain multiple promoters that can drive the expression of various transcript isoforms. Although transcript isoforms from the same gene could have diverse and non-overlapping functions, current loss-of-function methodologies are not able to differentiate between isoform-specific phenotypes. Results Here, we show that CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) can be adopted for targeting specific promoters within a gene, enabling isoform-specific loss-of-function genetic screens. We use this strategy to test functional dependencies of 820 transcript isoforms that are gained in gastric cancer (GC). We identify a subset of GC-gained transcript isoform dependencies, and of these, we validate CIT kinase as a novel GC dependency. We further show that some genes express isoforms with opposite functions. Specifically, we find that the tumour suppressor ZFHX3 expresses an isoform that has a paradoxical oncogenic role that correlates with poor patient outcome. Conclusions Our work finds isoform-specific phenotypes that would not be identified using current loss-of-function approaches that are not designed to target specific transcript isoforms.


Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 244
Author(s):  
Seung Hee Eom ◽  
Tae Kyung Hyun

Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are known as erasers that remove acetyl groups from lysine residues in histones. Although plant HDACs play essential roles in physiological processes, including various stress responses, our knowledge concerning HDAC gene families and their evolutionary relationship remains limited. In Brassica rapa genome, we identified 20 HDAC genes, which are divided into three major groups: RPD3/HDA1, HD2, and SIR2 families. In addition, seven pairs of segmental duplicated paralogs and one pair of tandem duplicated paralogs were identified in the B. rapa HDAC (BraHDAC) family, indicating that segmental duplication is predominant for the expansion of the BraHDAC genes. The expression patterns of paralogous gene pairs suggest a divergence in the function of BraHDACs under various stress conditions. Furthermore, we suggested that BraHDA3 (homologous of Arabidopsis HDA14) encodes the functional HDAC enzyme, which can be inhibited by Class I/II HDAC inhibitor SAHA. As a first step toward understanding the epigenetic responses to environmental stresses in Chinese cabbage, our results provide a solid foundation for functional analysis of the BraHDAC family.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aurélie Jouanin ◽  
Jan G. Schaart ◽  
Lesley A. Boyd ◽  
James Cockram ◽  
Fiona J. Leigh ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lukasz M. Milanowski ◽  
Olajumoke Oshinaike ◽  
Benjamin J. Broadway ◽  
Jennifer A. Lindemann ◽  
Alexandra I. Soto-Beasley ◽  
...  

Introduction: Nigeria is one of the most populated countries in the world; however, there is a scarcity of studies in patients with age-related neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson disease (PD). The aim of this study was to screen patients with PD including a small cohort of early-onset PD (EOPD) cases from Nigeria for PRKN, PINK1, DJ1, SNCA multiplication, and LRRK2 p.G2019S.Methods: We assembled a cohort of 109 Nigerian patients with PD from the four main Nigerian tribes: Yoruba, Igbo, Edo, and Hausa. Fifteen cases [14 from the Yoruba tribe (93.3%)] had EOPD (defined as age-at-onset <50 years). All patients with EOPD were sequenced for the coding regions of PRKN, PINK1, and DJ1. Exon dosage analysis was performed with a multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification assay, which also included a SNCA probe and LRRK2 p.G2019S. We screened for LRRK2 p.G2019S in the entire PD cohort using a genotyping assay. The PINK1 p.R501Q functional analysis was conducted.Results: In 15 patients with EOPD, 22 variants were observed [PRKN, 9 (40.9%); PINK1, 10 (45.5%); and DJ1, 3 (13.6%)]. Three (13.6%) rare, nonsynonymous variants were identified, but no homozygous or compound heterozygous carriers were found. No exonic rearrangements were present in the three genes, and no carriers of SNCA genomic multiplications or LRRK2 p.G2019S were identified. The PINK1 p.R501Q functional analysis revealed pathogenic loss of function.Conclusion: More studies on age-related neurodegenerative diseases are needed in sub-Saharan African countries, including Nigeria. Population-specific variation may provide insight into the genes involved in PD in the local population but may also contribute to larger studiesperformed in White and Asian populations.


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