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Crispr/Cas9-mediated cleavages facilitate homologous recombination during genetic engineering of a large chromosomal region.

Fan ZhangDe ChengShuwen WangJiyue Zhu
Published in: Biotechnology and bioengineering (2020)
Homologous recombination over large genomic regions is difficult to achieve due to low efficiencies. Here, we report the successful engineering of a humanized mTert allele, hmTert, in the mouse genome by replacing an 18.1-kb genomic region around the mTert gene with a recombinant fragment of over 45.5 kb, using homologous recombination facilitated by the Crispr/Cas9 technology, in mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs). In our experiments, with DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) generated by Crispr/Cas9 system, the homologous recombination efficiency was up to 11% and 16% in two mESC lines TC1 and v6.5, respectively. Overall, we obtained a total of 27 mESC clones with heterozygous hmTert/mTert alleles and three clones with homozygous hmTert alleles. DSBs induced by Crispr/Cas9 cleavages also caused high rates of genomic DNA deletions and mutations at single-guide RNA target sites. Our results indicated that the Crispr/Cas9 system significantly increased the efficiency of homologous recombination-mediated gene editing over a large genomic region in mammalian cells, and also caused frequent mutations at unedited target sites. Overall, this strategy provides an efficient and feasible way for manipulating large chromosomal regions.
Keyphrases
  • crispr cas
  • dna repair
  • dna damage
  • copy number
  • genome editing
  • genome wide
  • embryonic stem cells
  • cell free
  • oxidative stress
  • circulating tumor
  • single molecule
  • dna methylation
  • nucleic acid
  • circulating tumor cells