A new set of base editors based on CRISPR/Cpf1 (Cas12a) (dCpf1-BE)

Recently, yang Li Research Group of the Institute of Computational Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chen Jia Research Group of shanghai University of Science and Technology' School of Life and Huang Xingxu Research Group developed a series of new base editors (dCpf1-BE) based on CRISPR/Cpf1 (Cas12a) with the relevant results, which are published online in the international academic journal Nature-Biotech.
traditional CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing techniques, while high in gene knockout efficiency, are often inefficient when performing specific base replacements, such as correcting point mutations that cause genetic diseases, which greatly limits the application of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing.
recently developed a new base editing system (Base Editor, BE) using the integration of CRISPR/Cas9 and APOBEC (cytosine deaminase) for efficient genomic targeted editing at single base levels, such as cytosine to thymus.
this new base editing system can theoretically correct hundreds of genomic point mutations that cause human diseases, so it has great potential for clinical application.
the base editing systems currently reported are using the Cas9 protein (mainly The Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9, SpCas9 and Staphyloccus aureus Cas9, SaCas9) to perform targeted binding to the genome, which relies on the PAM (Adjacenttospacem Motif) sequence next to the target.
the PAM sequences identified by the SpCas9 and SaCas9 proteins contain more than ostrich/Cytosine (G/C-rich), so that the reported base editing system cannot be used for efficient base editing in the adenine/thymus-rich (A/T-rich) area.
In the latest study, researchers built a new base editor (dCpf1-BE) based on the CRISPR/Cpf1 protein.
Because the Cpf1 protein recognizes PAM sequences rich in adenine/thymus, this new base editor based on Cpf1 enables base editing in the adenine/thymus-rich region.
while expanding the editable area, the new Cpf1-based base editor produces lower editing by-products and therefore has greater editing accuracy.
this new base editor based on Cpf1 and the existing Cas9-based base editor can achieve effective complementarity of base editing, and provide a new method and expand new ideas for the comprehensive and in-depth application of base editing system in basic research and future clinical fields.
Yang Li has long been engaged in computational biology and histological research.
In this latest collaborative study, a new type of base editor system based on Cpf1 has been successfully developed using a high-throughput system combined with computation and experiments, which enables base editing in the adenine/thymus rich region. in a series of collaborative studies with Chen Jia,
clarified the molecular mechanisms of mutations produced by APOBEC in the repair of genomic DNA fractures caused by CRISPR/Cas9 (Lei et al., 2018, Safran Nature and Molecular Biology) and successfully developed an enhanced genomic base editing system (Wang et al., 2017, Cell Research).
the work under the joint guidance of Yang Li, Chen Jia, Huang Xingxu, by Chen Jia Research Group 2014 Shubo Lian graduate student Li Wei, Yang Li Research Group 2015 Shubo Lian graduate student Wang Wei and Huang Xingxu Research Group 2014 Shubo Lian graduate student Liu Yajing and other joint lying.
the research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Shanghai Science and Technology Commission and the Shanghai University of Science and Technology Research Launch Fund.
the high-throughput sequencing data used in the study was performed by PICB Omics Core and stored in NCBI (GEO: GSE110136) and PICB Data Center (National Omics Data Encyclopedia: NODEP00371765).
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