Patent Grant
11634731
Methods for increasing specificity of RNA-guided genome editing, e.g., editing using CRISPR/Cas9 systems, using truncated guide RNAs (tru-gRNAs).
Recent work has demonstrated that clustered, regularly interspaced, short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated (Cas) systems (Wiedenheft et al., Nature 482, 331-338 (2012); Horvath et al., Science 327, 167-170 (2010); Terns et al., Curr Opin Microbiol 14, 321-327 (2011)) can serve as the basis for performing genome editing in bacteria, yeast and human cells, as well as in vivo in whole organisms such as fruit flies, zebrafish and mice (Wang et al., Cell 153, 910-918 (2013); Shen et al., Cell Res (2013); Dicarlo et al., Nucleic Acids Res (2013); Jiang et al., Nat Biotechnol 31, 233-239 (2013); Jinek et al., Elife 2, e00471 (2013); Hwang et al., Nat Biotechnol 31, 227-229 (2013); Cong et al., Science 339, 819-823 (2013); Mali et al., Science 339, 823-826 (2013c); Cho et al., Nat Biotechnol 31, 230-232 (2013); Gratz et al., Genetics 194(4):1029-35 (2013)). The Cas9 nuclease from S. pyogenes (hereafter simply Cas9) can be guided via base pair complementarity between the first 20 nucleotides of an engineered guide RNA (gRNA) and the complementary strand of a target genomic DNA sequence of interest that lies next to a protospacer adjacent motif (PAM), e.g., a PAM matching the sequence NGG or NAG (Shen et al., Cell Res (2013); Dicarlo et al., Nucleic Acids Res (2013); Jiang et al., Nat Biotechnol 31, 233-239 (2013); Jinek et al., Elife 2, e00471 (2013); Hwang et al., Nat Biotechnol 31, 227-229 (2013); Cong et at, Science 339, 819-823 (2013); Mali et al., Science 339, 823-826 (2013c); Cho et al., Nat Biotechnol 31, 230-232 (2013); Jinek et al., Science 337, 816-821 (2012)). Previous studies performed in vitro (Jinek et al., Science 337, 816-821 (2012)), in bacteria (Jiang et al., Nat Biotechnol 31, 233-239 (2013)) and in human cells (Cong et al., Science 339, 819-823 (2013)) have shown that Cas9-mediated cleavage can, in some cases, be abolished by single mismatches at the gRNA/target site interface, particularly in the last 10-12 nucleotides (nts) located in the 3′ end of the 20 nt gRNA complementarity region.
CRISPR-Cas genome editing uses a guide RNA, which includes both a complementarity region (which binds the target DNA by base-pairing) and a Cas9-binding region, to direct a Cas9 nuclease to a target DNA (see
In one aspect, the invention provides a guide RNA molecule (e.g., a single guide RNA or a crRNA) having a target complementarity region of 17-18 or 17-19 nucleotides, e.g., the target complementarity region consists of 17-18 or 17-19 nucleotides, e.g., the target complementarity region consists of 17-18 or 17-19 nucleotides of consecutive target complementarity. In some embodiments, the guide RNA includes a complementarity region consisting of 17-18 or 17-19 nucleotides that are complementary to 17-18 or 17-19 consecutive nucleotides of the complementary strand of a selected target genomic sequence. In some embodiments, the target complementarity region consists of 17-18 nucleotides (of target complementarity). In some embodiments, the complementarity region is complementary to 17 consecutive nucleotides of the complementary strand of a selected target sequence. In some embodiments, the complementarity region is complementary to 18 consecutive nucleotides of the complementary strand of a selected target sequence.
In another aspect, the invention provides a ribonucleic acid consisting of the sequence:
wherein X17-18 or X17-19 is a sequence (of 17-18 or 17-19 nucleotides) complementary to the complementary strand of a selected target sequence, preferably a target sequence immediately 5′ of a protospacer adjacent motif (PAM), e.g., NGG NAG or NNGG (see, for example, the configuration in
In another aspect, the invention provides DNA molecules encoding the ribonucleic acids described herein, and host cells harboring or expressing the ribonucleic acids or vectors.
In a further aspect, the invention provides methods for increasing specificity of RNA-guided genome editing in a cell, the method comprising contacting the cell with a guide RNA that includes a complementarity region consisting of 17-18 or 17-19 nucleotides that are complementary to 17-18 or 17-19 consecutive nucleotides of the complementary strand of a selected target genomic sequence, as described herein.
In yet another aspect, the invention provides methods for inducing a single or double-stranded break in a target region of a double-stranded DNA molecule, e.g., in a genomic sequence in a cell. The methods include expressing in or introducing into the cell: a Cas9 nuclease or nickase; and a guide RNA that includes a sequence consisting of 17 or 18 or 19 nucleotides that are complementary to the complementary strand of a selected target sequence, preferably a target sequence immediately 5′ of a protospacer adjacent motif (PAM), e.g., NGG, NAG, or NNGG, e.g., a ribonucleic acid as described herein.
Also provided herein are methods for modifying a target region of a double-stranded DNA molecule in a cell. The methods include expressing in or introducing into the cell: a dCas9-heterologous functional domain fusion protein (dCas9-HFD); and a guide RNA that includes a complementarity region consisting of 17-18 or 17-19 nucleotides that are complementary to 17-18 or 17-19 consecutive nucleotides of the complementary strand of a selected target genomic sequence, as described herein.
In some embodiments, the guide RNA is (i) a single guide RNA that includes a complementarity region consisting of 17-18 or 17-19 nucleotides that are complementary to 17-18 or 17-19 consecutive nucleotides of the complementary strand of a selected target genomic sequence, or (ii) a crRNA that includes a complementarity region consisting of 17-18 or 17-19 nucleotides that are complementary to 17-18 or 17-19 consecutive nucleotides of the complementary strand of a selected target genomic sequence, and a tracrRNA.
In some embodiments, the target complementarity region consists of 17-18 nucleotides (of target complementarity). In some embodiments, the complementarity region is complementary to 17 consecutive nucleotides of the complementary strand of a selected target sequence. In some embodiments, the complementarity region is complementary to 18 consecutive
In no case is the X17-18 or X17-19 of any of the molecules described herein identical to a sequence that naturally occurs adjacent to the rest of the RNA. In some embodiments the RNA includes one or more U, e.g., 1 to 8 or more Us (e.g., U, UU, UUU, UUUU, UUUUU, UUUUUU, UUUUUUU, UUUUUUUU) at the 3′ end of the molecule, as a result of the optional presence of one or more Ts used as a termination signal to terminate RNA PolIII transcription. In some embodiments the RNA includes one or more, e.g., up to 3, e.g., one, two, or three, additional nucleotides at the 5′ end of the RNA molecule that is not complementary to the target sequence.
In some embodiments, one or more of the nucleotides of the RNA is modified, e.g., locked (2′-O-4′-C methylene bridge), is 5′-methylcytidine, is 2′-O-methyl-pseudouridine, or in which the ribose phosphate backbone has been replaced by a polyamide chain, e.g., one or more of the nucleotides within or outside the target complementarity region X17-18 or X17-19. In some embodiments, some or all of the tracrRNA or crRNA, e.g., within or outside the X17-18 or X17-19 target complementarity region, comprises deoxyribonucleotides (e.g., is all or partially DNA, e.g. DNA/RNA hybrids).
In an additional aspect, the invention provides methods for modifying a target region of a double-stranded DNA molecule, e.g., in a genomic sequence in a cell. The methods include expressing in or introducing into the cell:
a dCas9-heterologous functional domain fusion protein (dCas9-HFD); and a guide RNA that includes a sequence consisting of 17-18 or 17-19 nucleotides that are complementary to the complementary strand of a selected target sequence, preferably a target sequence immediately 5′ of a protospacer adjacent motif (PAM), e.g., NGG, NAG, or NNGG, e.g., a ribonucleic acid as described herein. In no case is the X17-18 or X17-19 identical to a sequence that naturally occurs adjacent to the rest of the RNA. In some embodiments the RNA includes one or more, e.g., up to 3, e.g., one, two, or three, additional nucleotides at the 5′ end of the RNA molecule that is not complementary to the target sequence.
In another aspect, the invention provides methods for modifying, e.g., introducing a sequence specific break into, a target region of a double-stranded DNA molecule, e.g., in a genomic sequence in a cell. The methods include expressing in or introducing into the cell: a Cas9 nuclease or nickase, or a dCas9-heterologous functional domain fusion protein (dCas9-HFD);
a tracrRNA, e.g., comprising or consisting of the sequence GGAACCAUUCAAAACAGCAUAGCAAGUUAAAAUAAGGCUAGUCCGUUA UCAACUUGAAAAAGUGGCACCGAGUCGGUGC (SEQ ID NO:8) or an active portion thereof;
UAGCAAGUUAAAAUAAGGCUAGUCCGUUAUCAACUUGAAAAAGUGGCA CCGAGUCGGUGC (SEQ ID NO:2405) or an active portion thereof; AGCAUAGCAAGUUAAAAUAAGGCUAGUCCGUUAUCAACUUGAAAAAGU GGCACCGAGUCGGUGC (SEQ ID NO:2407) or an active portion thereof;
CAAAACAGCAUAGCAAGUUAAAAUAAGGCUAGUCCGUUAUCAACUUGA AAAAGUGGCACCGAGUCGGUGC (SEQ ID NO:2409) or an active portion thereof;
UAGCAAGUUAAAAUAAGGCUAGUCCGUUAUCAACUUGAAAAAGUG (SEQ ID NO:2410) or an active portion thereof;
UAGCAAGUUAAAAUAAGGCUAGUCCGUUAUCA (SEQ ID NO:2411) or an active portion thereof; or
UAGCAAGUUAAAAUAAGGCUAGUCCG (SEQ ID NO:2412) or an active portion thereof; and
a crRNA that includes a sequence consisting of 17-18 or 17-19 nucleotides that are complementary to the complementary strand of a selected target sequence, preferably a target sequence immediately 5′ of a protospacer adjacent motif (PAM), e.g., NGG, NAG, or NNGG; in some embodiments the crRNA has the sequence:
In no case is the X17-18 or X17-19 identical to a sequence that naturally occurs adjacent to the rest of the RNA. In some embodiments the RNA (e.g., tracrRNA or crRNA) includes one or more U, e.g., 2 to 8 or more Us (e.g., U, UU, UUU, UUUU, UUUUU, UUUUUU, UUUUUUU, UUUUUUUU) at the 3′ end of the molecule, as a result of the optional presence of one or more Ts used as a termination signal to terminate RNA PolIII transcription. In some embodiments the RNA (e.g., tracrRNA or crRNA) includes one or more, e.g., up to 3, e.g., one, two, or three, additional nucleotides at the 5′ end of the RNA molecule that is not complementary to the target sequence. In some embodiments, one or more of the nucleotides of the crRNA or tracrRNA is modified, e.g., locked (2′-O-4′-C methylene bridge), is 5′-methylcytidine, is 2′-O-methyl-pseudouridine, or in which the ribose phosphate backbone has been replaced by a polyamide chain, e.g., one or more of the nucleotides within or outside the sequence X17-18 or X17-19. In some embodiments, some or all of the tracrRNA or crRNA, e.g., within or outside the X17-18 or X17-19 target complementarity region, comprises deoxyribonucleotides (e.g., is all or partially DNA, e.g. DNA/RNA hybrids).
In some embodiments, the dCas9-heterologous functional domain fusion protein (dCas9-HFD) comprises a HFD that modifies gene expression, histones, or DNA, e.g., transcriptional activation domain, transcriptional repressors (e.g., silencers such as Heterochromatin Protein 1 (HP1), e.g., HP1α or HP1β), enzymes that modify the methylation state of DNA (e.g., DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) or TET proteins, e.g., TET1), or enzymes that modify histone subunit (e.g., histone acetyltransferases (HAT), histone deacetylases (HDAC), or histone demethylases). In preferred embodiments, the heterologous functional domain is a transcriptional activation domain, e.g., a VP64 or NF-κB p65 transcriptional activation domain; an enzyme that catalyzes DNA demethylation, e.g., a TET protein family member or the catalytic domain from one of these family members; or histone modification (e.g., LSD1, histone methyltransferase, HDACs, or HATs) or a transcription silencing domain, e.g., from Heterochromatin Protein 1 (HP1), e.g., HP1α or HP1β; or a biological tether, e.g., MS2, CRISPR/Cas Subtype Ypest protein 4 (Csy4) or lambda N protein. dCas9-HFD are described in a U.S. Provisional Patent Applications U.S. Ser. No. 61/799,647, Filed on Mar. 15, 2013, U.S. Ser. No. 61/838,148, filed on Jun. 21, 2013, and PCT International Application No. PCT/US14/27335, all of which are incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
In some embodiments, the methods described herein result in an indel mutation or sequence alteration in the selected target genomic sequence.
In some embodiments, the cell is a eukaryotic cell, e.g., a mammalian cell, e.g., a human cell.
Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Methods and materials are described herein for use in the present invention; other, suitable methods and materials known in the art can also be used. The materials, methods, and examples are illustrative only and not intended to be limiting. All publications, patent applications, patents, sequences, database entries, and other references mentioned herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety. In case of conflict, the present specification, including definitions, will control.
Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description and figures, and from the claims.
CRISPR RNA-guided nucleases (RGNs) have rapidly emerged as a facile and efficient platform for genome editing. Although Marraffini and colleagues (Jiang et al., Nat Biotechnol 31, 233-239 (2013)) recently performed a systematic investigation of Cas9 RGN specificity in bacteria, the specificities of RGNs in human cells have not been extensively defined. Understanding the scope of RGN-mediated off-target effects in human and other eukaryotic cells will be critically essential if these nucleases are to be used widely for research and therapeutic applications. The present inventors have used a human cell-based reporter assay to characterize off-target cleavage of Cas9-based RGNs. Single and double mismatches were tolerated to varying degrees depending on their position along the guide RNA (gRNA)-DNA interface. Off-target alterations induced by four out of six RGNs targeted to endogenous loci in human cells were readily detected by examination of partially mismatched sites. The off-target sites identified harbor up to five mismatches and many are mutagenized with frequencies comparable to (or higher than) those observed at the intended on-target site. Thus RGNs are highly active even with imperfectly matched RNA-DNA interfaces in human cells, a finding that might confound their use in research and therapeutic applications.
The results described herein reveal that predicting the specificity profile of any given RGN is neither simple nor straightforward. The EGFP reporter assay experiments show that single and double mismatches can have variable effects on RGN activity in human cells that do not strictly depend upon their position(s) within the target site. For example, consistent with previously published reports, alterations in the 3′ half of the sgRNA/DNA interface generally have greater effects than those in the 5′ half (Jiang et al., Nat Biotechnol 31, 233-239 (2013); Cong et al., Science 339, 819-823 (2013); Jinek et al., Science 337, 816-821 (2012)); however, single and double mutations in the 3′ end sometimes also appear to be well tolerated whereas double mutations in the 5′ end can greatly diminish activities. In addition, the magnitude of these effects for mismatches at any given position(s) appears to be site-dependent. Comprehensive profiling of a large series of RGNs with testing of all possible nucleotide substitutions (beyond the Watson-Crick transversions used in our EGFP reporter experiments) may help provide additional insights into the range of potential off-targets. In this regard, the recently described bacterial cell-based method of Marraffini and colleagues (Jiang et al., Nat Biotechnol 31, 233-239 (2013)) or the in vitro, combinatorial library-based cleavage site-selection methodologies previously applied to ZFNs by Liu and colleagues (Pattanayak et al., Nat Methods 8, 765-770 (2011)) might be useful for generating larger sets of RGN specificity profiles.
Despite these challenges in comprehensively predicting RGN specificities, it was possible to identify bona fide off-targets of RGNs by examining a subset of genomic sites that differed from the on-target site by one to five mismatches. Notably, under conditions of these experiments, the frequencies of RGN-induced mutations at many of these off-target sites were similar to (or higher than) those observed at the intended on-target site, enabling the detection of mutations at these sites using the T7EI assay (which, as performed in our laboratory, has a reliable detection limit of ˜2 to 5% mutation frequency). Because these mutation rates were very high, it was possible to avoid using deep sequencing methods previously required to detect much lower frequency ZFN- and TALEN-induced off-target alterations (Pattanayak et al., Nat Methods 8, 765-770 (2011); Perez et al., Nat Biotechnol 26, 808-816 (2008); Gabriel et al., Nat Biotechnol 29, 816-823 (2011); Hockemeyer et al., Nat Biotechnol 29, 731-734 (2011)). Analysis of RGN off-target mutagenesis in human cells also confirmed the difficulties of predicting RGN specificities—not all single and double mismatched off-target sites show evidence of mutation whereas some sites with as many as five mismatches can also show alterations. Furthermore, the bona fide off-target sites identified do not exhibit any obvious bias toward transition or transversion differences relative to the intended target sequence (Table E; grey highlighted rows). Although off-target sites were seen for a number of RGNs, identification of these sites was neither comprehensive nor genome-wide in scale. For the six RGNs studied, only a very small subset of the much larger total number of potential off-target sequences in the human genome (sites that differ by three to six nucleotides from the intended target site; compare Tables E and C) was examined. Although examining such large numbers of loci for off-target mutations by T7EI assay is neither a practical nor a cost-effective strategy, the use of high-throughput sequencing in future studies might enable the interrogation of larger numbers of candidate off-target sites and provide a more sensitive method for detecting bona fide off-target mutations. For example, such an approach might enable the unveiling of additional off-target sites for the two RGNs for which we failed to uncover any off-target mutations. In addition, an improved understanding both of RGN specificities and of any epigenomic factors (e.g., DNA methylation and chromatin status) that may influence RGN activities in cells might also reduce the number of potential sites that need to be examined and thereby make genome-wide assessments of RGN off-targets more practical and affordable.
As described herein, a number of strategies can be used to minimize the frequencies of genomic off-target mutations. For example, the specific choice of RGN target site can be optimized; given that off-target sites that differ at up to five positions from the intended target site can be efficiently mutated by RGNs, choosing target sites with minimal numbers of off-target sites as judged by mismatch counting seems unlikely to be effective; thousands of potential off-target sites that differ by four or five positions within the 20 bp RNA:DNA complementarity region will typically exist for any given RGN targeted to a sequence in the human genome (see, for example, Table C). It is also possible that the nucleotide content of the gRNA complementarity region might influence the range of potential off-target effects. For example, high GC-content has been shown to stabilize RNA:DNA hybrids (Sugimoto et al., Biochemistry 34, 11211-11216 (1995)) and therefore might also be expected to make gRNA/genomic DNA hybridization more stable and more tolerant to mismatches. Additional experiments with larger numbers of gRNAs will be needed to assess if and how these two parameters (numbers of mismatched sites in the genome and stability of the RNA:DNA hybrid) influence the genome-wide specificities of RGNs. However, it is important to note that even if such predictive parameters can be defined, the effect of implementing such guidelines would be to further restrict the targeting range of RGNs.
One potential general strategy for reducing RGN-induced off-target effects might be to reduce the concentrations of gRNA and Cas9 nuclease expressed in the cell. This idea was tested using the RGNs for VEGFA target sites 2 and 3 in U2OS.EGFP cells; transfecting less sgRNA- and Cas9-expressing plasmid decreased the mutation rate at the on-target site but did not appreciably change the relative rates of off-target mutations (Tables 2A and 2B). Consistent with this, high-level off-target mutagenesis rates were also observed in two other human cell types (HEK293 and K562 cells) even though the absolute rates of on-target mutagenesis are lower than in U2OS.EGFP cells. Thus, reducing expression levels of gRNA and Cas9 in cells is not likely to provide a solution for reducing off-target effects. Furthermore, these results also suggest that the high rates of off-target mutagenesis observed in human cells are not caused by overexpression of gRNA and/or Cas9.
CTA
CCCCTCCACCCCGCCTCCGG
T
ACCCCCCACACCCCGCCTCTGG
ACA
CCCCCCCACCCCGCCTCAGG
ATT
CCCCCCCACCCCGCCTCAGG
CC
CCACCCCCACCCCGCCTCAGG
CG
CCCTCCCCACCCCGCCTCCGG
CT
CCCCACCCACCCCGCCTCAGG
TG
CCCCTCCCACCCCGCCTCTGG
AGG
CCCCCACACCCCGCCTCAGG
A
GTGAGTGAGTGTGTGTGTGGGG
T
GTGGGTGAGTGTGTGCGTGAGG
A
GAGAGTGAGTGTGTGCATGAGG
The finding that significant off-target mutagenesis can be induced by RGNs in three different human cell types has important implications for broader use of this genome-editing platform. For research applications, the potentially confounding effects of high frequency off-target mutations will need to be considered, particularly for experiments involving either cultured cells or organisms with slow generation times for which the outcrossing of undesired alterations would be challenging. One way to control for such effects might be to utilize multiple RGNs targeted to different DNA sequences to induce the same genomic alteration because off-target effects are not random but instead related to the targeted site. However, for therapeutic applications, these findings clearly indicate that the specificities of RGNs will need to be carefully defined and/or improved if these nucleases are to be used safely in the longer term for treatment of human diseases.
Methods for Improving Specificity
As shown herein, CRISPR-Cas RNA-guided nucleases based on the S. pyogenes Cas9 protein can have significant off-target mutagenic effects that are comparable to or higher than the intended on-target activity (Example 1). Such off-target effects can be problematic for research and in particular for potential therapeutic applications. Therefore, methods for improving the specificity of CRISPR-Cas RNA guided nucleases (RGNs) are needed.
As described in Example 1, Cas9 RGNs can induce high-frequency indel mutations at off-target sites in human cells (see also Cradick et al., 2013; Fu et al., 2013; Hsu et al., 2013; Pattanayak et al., 2013). These undesired alterations can occur at genomic sequences that differ by as many as five mismatches from the intended on-target site (see Example 1). In addition, although mismatches at the 5′ end of the gRNA complementarity region are generally better tolerated than those at the 3′ end, these associations are not absolute and show site-to-site-dependence (see Example 1 and Fu et al., 2013; Hsu et al., 2013; Pattanayak et al., 2013). As a result, computational methods that rely on the number and/or positions of mismatches currently have limited predictive value for identifying bona fide off-target sites. Therefore, methods for reducing the frequencies of off-target mutations remain an important priority if RNA-guided nucleases are to be used for research and therapeutic applications.
Truncated Guide RNAs (tru-gRNAs) Achieve Greater Specificity
Guide RNAs generally speaking come in two different systems: System 1, which uses separate crRNA and tracrRNAs that function together to guide cleavage by Cas9, and System 2, which uses a chimeric crRNA-tracrRNA hybrid that combines the two separate guide RNAs in a single system (referred to as a single guide RNA or sgRNA, see also Jinek et al., Science 2012; 337:816-821). The tracrRNA can be variably truncated and a range of lengths has been shown to function in both the separate system (system 1) and the chimeric gRNA system (system 2). For example, in some embodiments, tracrRNA may be truncated from its 3′ end by at least 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 or 40 nts. In some embodiments, the tracrRNA molecule may be truncated from its 5′ end by at least 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 or 40 nts. Alternatively, the tracrRNA molecule may be truncated from both the 5′ and 3′ end, e.g., by at least 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15 or 20 nts on the 5′ end and at least 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 or 40 nts on the 3′ end. See, e.g., Jinek et al., Science 2012; 337:816-821; Mali et al., Science. 2013 Feb. 15; 339(6121):823-6; Cong et al., Science. 2013 Feb. 15; 339(6121):819-23; and Hwang and Fu et al., Nat Biotechnol. 2013 March; 31(3):227-9; Jinek et al., Elife 2, e00471 (2013)). For System 2, generally the longer length chimeric gRNAs have shown greater on-target activity but the relative specificities of the various length gRNAs currently remain undefined and therefore it may be desirable in certain instances to use shorter gRNAs. In some embodiments, the gRNAs are complementary to a region that is within about 100-800 bp upstream of the transcription start site, e.g., is within about 500 bp upstream of the transcription start site, includes the transcription start site, or within about 100-800 bp, e.g., within about 500 bp, downstream of the transcription start site. In some embodiments, vectors (e.g., plasmids) encoding more than one gRNA are used, e.g., plasmids encoding, 2, 3, 4, 5, or more gRNAs directed to different sites in the same region of the target gene.
The present application describes a strategy for improving RGN specificity based on the seemingly counterintuitive idea of shortening, rather than lengthening, the gRNA complementarity region. These shorter gRNAs can induce various types of Cas9-mediated on-target genome editing events with efficiencies comparable to (or, in some cases, higher than) full-length gRNAs at multiple sites in a single integrated EGFP reporter gene and in endogenous human genes. In addition, RGNs using these shortened gRNAs exhibit increased sensitivity to small numbers of mismatches at the gRNA-target DNA interface. Most importantly, use of shortened gRNAs substantially reduces the rates of genomic off-target effects in human cells, yielding improvements of specificity as high as 5000-fold or more at these sites. Thus, this shortened gRNA strategy provides a highly effective approach for reducing off-target effects without compromising on-target activity and without the need for expression of a second, potentially mutagenic gRNA. This approach can be implemented on its own or in conjunction with other strategies such as the paired nickase method to reduce the off-target effects of RGNs in human cells.
Thus, one method to enhance specificity of CRISPR/Cas nucleases shortens the length of the guide RNA (gRNA) species used to direct nuclease specificity. Cas9 nuclease can be guided to specific 17-18 nt genomic targets bearing an additional proximal protospacer adjacent motif (PAM), e.g., of sequence NGG, using a guide RNA, e.g., a single gRNA or a crRNA (paired with a tracrRNA), bearing 17 or 18 nts at its 5′ end that are complementary to the complementary strand of the genomic DNA target site (
Although one might expect that increasing the length of the gRNA complementarity region would improve specificity, the present inventors (Hwang et al., PLoS One. 2013 Jul. 9; 8(7):e68708) and others (Ran et al., Cell. 2013 Sep. 12; 154(6):1380-9) have previously observed that lengthening the target site complementarity region at the 5′ end of the gRNA actually makes it function less efficiently at the on-target site.
By contrast, experiments in Example 1 showed that gRNAs bearing multiple mismatches within a standard length 5′ complementarity targeting region could still induce robust Cas9-mediated cleavage of their target sites. Thus, it was possible that truncated gRNAs lacking these 5′-end nucleotides might show activities comparable to their full-length counterparts (
Decreasing the length of the DNA sequence targeted might also decrease the stability of the gRNA:DNA hybrid, making it less tolerant of mismatches and thereby making the targeting more specific. That is, truncating the gRNA sequence to recognize a shorter DNA target might actually result in a RNA-guided nuclease that is less tolerant to even single nucleotide mismatches and is therefore more specific and has fewer unintended off-target effects.
This strategy for shortening the gRNA complementarity region could potentially be used with RNA guided proteins other than S. pyogenes Cas9 including other Cas proteins from bacteria or archaea as well as Cas9 variants that nick a single strand of DNA or have no-nuclease activity such as a dCas9 bearing catalytic inactivating mutations in one or both nuclease domains. This strategy can be applied to systems that utilize a single gRNA as well as those that use dual gRNAs (e.g., the crRNA and tracrRNA found in naturally occurring systems).
Thus, described herein is a single guide RNA comprising a crRNA fused to a normally trans-encoded tracrRNA, e.g., a single Cas9 guide RNA as described in Mali et al., Science 2013 Feb. 15; 339(6121):823-6, but with a sequence at the 5′ end that is complementary to fewer than 20 nucleotides (nts), e.g., 19, 18, or 17 nts, preferably 17 or 18 nts, of the complementary strand to a target sequence immediately 5′ of a protospacer adjacent motif (PAM), e.g., NGG, NAG, or NNGG. In some embodiments, the shortened Cas9 guide RNA consists of the sequence:
wherein X17-18 or X17-19 is the nucleotide sequence complementary to 17-18 or 17-19 consecutive nucleotides of the target sequence, respectively. Also described herein are DNAs encoding the shortened Cas9 guide RNAs that have been described previously in the literature (Jinek et al., Science. 337(6096):816-21 (2012) and Jinek et al., Elife. 2:e00471 (2013)).
The guide RNAs can include XN which can be any sequence, wherein N (in the RNA) can be 0-200, e.g., 0-100, 0-50, or 0-20, that does not interfere with the binding of the ribonucleic acid to Cas9.
In some embodiments, the guide RNA includes one or more Adenine (A) or Uracil (U) nucleotides on the 3′ end. In some embodiments the RNA includes one or more U, e.g., 1 to 8 or more Us (e.g., U, UU, UUU, UUUU, UUUUU, UUUUUU, UUUUUUU, UUUUUUUU) at the 3′ end of the molecule, as a result of the optional presence of one or more Ts used as a termination signal to terminate RNA PolIII transcription.
Modified RNA oligonucleotides such as locked nucleic acids (LNAs) have been demonstrated to increase the specificity of RNA-DNA hybridization by locking the modified oligonucleotides in a more favorable (stable) conformation. For example, 2′-O-methyl RNA is a modified base where there is an additional covalent linkage between the 2′ oxygen and 4′ carbon which when incorporated into oligonucleotides can improve overall thermal stability and selectivity (formula I).
Thus in some embodiments, the tru-gRNAs disclosed herein may comprise one or more modified RNA oligonucleotides. For example, the truncated guide RNAs molecules described herein can have one, some or all of the 17-18 or 17-19 nts 5′ region of the guideRNA complementary to the target sequence are modified, e.g., locked (2′-O-4′-C methylene bridge), 5′-methylcytidine, 2′-O-methyl-pseudouridine, or in which the ribose phosphate backbone has been replaced by a polyamide chain (peptide nucleic acid), e.g., a synthetic ribonucleic acid.
In other embodiments, one, some or all of the nucleotides of the tru-gRNA sequence may be modified, e.g., locked (2′-O-4′-C methylene bridge), 5′-methylcytidine, 2′-O-methyl-pseudouridine, or in which the ribose phosphate backbone has been replaced by a polyamide chain (peptide nucleic acid), e.g., a synthetic ribonucleic acid.
In a cellular context, complexes of Cas9 with these synthetic gRNAs could be used to improve the genome-wide specificity of the CRISPR/Cas9 nuclease system.
Exemplary modified or synthetic tru-gRNAs may comprise, or consist of, the following sequences:
wherein X17-18 or X17-19 is a sequence complementary to 17-18 or 17-19 nts of a target sequence, respectively, preferably a target sequence immediately 5′ of a protospacer adjacent motif (PAM), e.g., NGG, NAG, or NNGG, and further wherein one or more of the nucleotides are locked, e.g., one or more of the nucleotides within the sequence X17-18 or X17-19, one or more of the nucleotides within the sequence XN, or one or more of the nucleotides within any sequence of the tru-gRNA. XN is any sequence, wherein N (in the RNA) can be 0-200, e.g., 0-100, 0-50, or 0-20, that does not interfere with the binding of the ribonucleic acid to Cas9. In some embodiments the RNA includes one or more U, e.g., 1 to 8 or more Us (e.g., U, UU, UUU, UUUU, UUUUU, UUUUUU, UUUUUUU, UUUUUUUU) at the 3′ end of the molecule, as a result of the optional presence of one or more Ts used as a termination signal to terminate RNA PolIII transcription.
Although some of the examples described herein utilize a single gRNA, the methods can also be used with dual gRNAs (e.g., the crRNA and tracrRNA found in naturally occurring systems). In this case, a single tracrRNA would be used in conjunction with multiple different crRNAs expressed using the present system, e.g., the following: (X17-18 or X17-19) GUUUUAGAGCUA (SEQ ID NO:2404); (X17-18 or X17-19) GUUUUAGAGCUAUGCUGUUUUG (SEQ ID NO:2407); or (X17-18 or X17-19) GUUUUAGAGCUAUGCU (SEQ ID NO:2408); and a tracrRNA sequence. In this case, the crRNA is used as the guide RNA in the methods and molecules described herein, and the tracrRNA can be expressed from the same or a different DNA molecule. In some embodiments, the methods include contacting the cell with a tracrRNA comprising or consisting of the sequence GGAACCAUUCAAAACAGCAUAGCAAGUUAAAAUAAGGCUAGUCCGUUA UCAACUUGAAAAAGUGGCACCGAGUCGGUGC (SEQ ID NO:8) or an active portion thereof (an active portion is one that retains the ability to form complexes with Cas9 or dCas9). In some embodiments, the tracrRNA molecule may be truncated from its 3′ end by at least 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 or 40 nts. In another embodiment, the tracrRNA molecule may be truncated from its 5′ end by at least 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 or 40 nts. Alternatively, the tracrRNA molecule may be truncated from both the 5′ and 3′ end, e.g., by at least 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15 or 20 nts on the 5′ end and at least 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 or 40 nts on the 3′ end. Exemplary tracrRNA sequences in addition to SEQ ID NO:8 include the following:
UAGCAAGUUAAAAUAAGGCUAGUCCGUUAUCAACUUGAAAAAGUGGCA CCGAGUCGGUGC (SEQ ID NO:2405) or an active portion thereof;
AGCAUAGCAAGUUAAAAUAAGGCUAGUCCGUUAUCAACUUGAAAAAGU GGCACCGAGUCGGUGC (SEQ ID NO:2407) or an active portion thereof;
CAAAACAGCAUAGCAAGUUAAAAUAAGGCUAGUCCGUUAUCAACUUGA AAAAGUGGCACCGAGUCGGUGC (SEQ ID NO:2409) or an active portion thereof;
UAGCAAGUUAAAAUAAGGCUAGUCCGUUAUCAACUUGAAAAAGUG (SEQ ID NO:2410) or an active portion thereof; UAGCAAGUUAAAAUAAGGCUAGUCCGUUAUCA (SEQ ID NO:2411) or an active portion thereof; or UAGCAAGUUAAAAUAAGGCUAGUCCG (SEQ ID NO:2412) or an active portion thereof.
In some embodiments wherein (X17-18 or X17-19) GUUUUAGAGCUAUGCUGUUUUG (SEQ ID NO:2407) is used as a crRNA, the following tracrRNA is used:
GGAACCAUUCAAAACAGCAUAGCAAGUUAAAAUAAGGCUAGUCCGUUA UCAACUUGAAAAAGUGGCACCGAGUCGGUGC (SEQ ID NO:8) or an active portion thereof. In some embodiments wherein (X17-18 or X17-19) GUUUUAGAGCUA (SEQ ID NO:2404) is used as a crRNA, the following tracrRNA is used:
UAGCAAGUUAAAAUAAGGCUAGUCCGUUAUCAACUUGAAAAAGUGGCA CCGAGUCGGUGC (SEQ ID NO:2405) or an active portion thereof. In some embodiments wherein (X17-18 or X17-19) GUUUUAGAGCUAUGCU (SEQ ID NO:2408) is used as a crRNA, the following tracrRNA is used:
AGCAUAGCAAGUUAAAAUAAGGCUAGUCCGUUAUCAACUUGAAAAAGU GGCACCGAGUCGGUGC (SEQ ID NO:2406) or an active portion thereof.
In addition, in a system that uses separate crRNA and tracrRNA, one or both can be synthetic and include one or more modified (e.g., locked) nucleotides or deoxyribonucleotides.
In some embodiments, the single guide RNAs and/or crRNAs and/or tracrRNAs can include one or more Adenine (A) or Uracil (U) nucleotides on the 3′ end.
Existing Cas9-based RGNs use gRNA-DNA heteroduplex formation to guide targeting to genomic sites of interest. However, RNA-DNA heteroduplexes can form a more promiscuous range of structures than their DNA-DNA counterparts. In effect, DNA-DNA duplexes are more sensitive to mismatches, suggesting that a DNA-guided nuclease may not bind as readily to off-target sequences, making them comparatively more specific than RNA-guided nucleases. Thus, the truncated guide RNAs described herein can be hybrids, i.e., wherein one or more deoxyribonucleotides, e.g., a short DNA oligonucleotide, replaces all or part of the gRNA, e.g., all or part of the complementarity region of a gRNA. This DNA-based molecule could replace either all or part of the gRNA in a single gRNA system or alternatively might replace all of part of the crRNA in a dual crRNA/tracrRNA system. Such a system that incorporates DNA into the complementarity region should more reliably target the intended genomic DNA sequences due to the general intolerance of DNA-DNA duplexes to mismatching compared to RNA-DNA duplexes. Methods for making such duplexes are known in the art, See, e.g., Barker et al., BMC Genomics. 2005 Apr. 22; 6:57; and Sugimoto et al., Biochemistry. 2000 Sep. 19; 39(37):11270-81.
Exemplary modified or synthetic tru-gRNAs may comprise, or consist of, the following sequences:
wherein X17-18 or X17-19 is a sequence complementary to 17-18 or 17-19 nts of a target sequence, respectively, preferably a target sequence immediately 5′ of a protospacer adjacent motif (PAM), e.g., NGG, NAG, or NNGG, and further wherein one or more of the nucleotides are deoxyribonucleotides, e.g., one or more of the nucleotides within the sequence X17-18 or X17-19, one or more of the nucleotides within the sequence XN, or one or more of the nucleotides within any sequence of the tru-gRNA. XN is any sequence, wherein N (in the RNA) can be 0-200, e.g., 0-100, 0-50, or 0-20, that does not interfere with the binding of the ribonucleic acid to Cas9. In some embodiments the RNA includes one or more U, e.g., 1 to 8 or more Us (e.g., U, UU, UUU, UUUU, UUUUU, UUUUUU, UUUUUUU, UUUUUUUU) at the 3′ end of the molecule, as a result of the optional presence of one or more Ts used as a termination signal to terminate RNA PolIII transcription.
In addition, in a system that uses separate crRNA and tracrRNA, one or both can be synthetic and include one or more deoxyribonucleotides.
In some embodiments, the single guide RNAs or crRNAs or tracrRNAs includes one or more Adenine (A) or Uracil (U) nucleotides on the 3′ end.
In some embodiments, the gRNA is targeted to a site that is at least three or more mismatches different from any sequence in the rest of the genome in order to minimize off-target effects.
The methods described can include expressing in a cell, or contacting the cell with, a shortened Cas9 gRNA (tru-gRNA) as described herein (optionally a modified or DNA/RNA hybrid tru-gRNA), plus a nuclease that can be guided by the shortened Cas9 gRNAs, e.g., a Cas9 nuclease, e.g., as described in Mali et al., a Cas9 nickase as described in Jinek et al., 2012; or a dCas9-heterofunctional domain fusion (dCas9-HFD).
Cas9
A number of bacteria express Cas9 protein variants. The Cas9 from Streptococcus pyogenes is presently the most commonly used; some of the other Cas9 proteins have high levels of sequence identity with the S. pyogenes Cas9 and use the same guide RNAs. Others are more diverse, use different gRNAs, and recognize different PAM sequences as well (the 2-5 nucleotide sequence specified by the protein which is adjacent to the sequence specified by the RNA). Chylinski et al. classified Cas9 proteins from a large group of bacteria (RNA Biology 10:5, 1-12; 2013), and a large number of Cas9 proteins are listed in supplementary
Cas9 molecules of a variety of species can be used in the methods and compositions described herein. While the S. pyogenes and S. thermophilus Cas9 molecules are the subject of much of the disclosure herein, Cas9 molecules of, derived from, or based on the Cas9 proteins of other species listed herein can be used as well. In other words, while the much of the description herein uses S pyogenes and S. thermophilus Cas9 molecules, Cas9 molecules from the other species can replace them. Such species include those set forth in the following table, which was created based on supplementary
Veillonella
atypica ACS-134-V-Col7a
Fusobacterium
nucleatum subsp. vincentii
Filifactor
alocis ATCC 35896
Solobacterium
moorei F0204
Coprococcus
catus GD-7
Treponema
denticola ATCC 35405
Peptomphilus
duerdenii ATCC BAA-1640
Catenibacterium
mitsuokai DSM 15897
Streptococcus
mutans UA159
Streptococcus
pyogenes SF370
Listeria
innocua Clip11262
Streptococcus
thermophilus LMD -9
Staphylococcus
pseudintermedius ED99
Acidaminococcus
intestini RyC-MR95
Olsenella
uli DSM 7084
Oenococcus
kitaharae DSM 17330
Bifidobacterium
bifidum S17
Lactobacillus
rhamnosus GG
Lactobacillus
gasseri JV-V03
Finegoldia
magna ATCC 29328
Mycoplasma
mobile 163K
Mycoplasma
gallisepticum str. F
Mycoplasma
ovipneumoniae SC01
Mycoplasma
canis PG 14
Mycoplasma
synoviae 53
Eubacterium
rectale ATCC 33656
Streptococcus
thermophilus LMD-9
Enterococcus
faecalis TX0012
Staphylococcus
lugdunensis M23590
Eubacterium
dolichum DSM 3991
Lactobacillus
coryniformis subsp. torquens
Ilyobacter
polytropus DSM 2926
Ruminococcus
albus 8
Akkermansia
mucimphila ATCC BAA-835
Acidothermus
cellulolyticus 11B
Bifidobacterium
longum DJO10A
Bifidobacterium
dentium Bd1
Corynebacterium
diphtheriae NCTC 13129
Elusimicrobium
minutum Pei191
Nitratifractor
salsuginis DSM 16511
Sphaerochaeta
globus str. Buddy
Fibrobacter
succinogenes subsp. succinogenes
Bacteroides
fragilis NCTC 9343
Capnocytophaga
ochracea DSM 7271
Rhodopseudomonas
palustris BisB18
Prevotella
micans F0438
Prevotella
ruminicola 23
Flavobacterium
columnare ATCC 49512
Aminomonas
paucivorans DSM 12260
Rhodospirillum
rubrum ATCC 11170
Candidatus
Puniceispirillum
marinum IMCC1322
Verminephrobacter
eiseniae EF01-2
Ralstonia
syzygii R24
Dinoroseobacter
shibae DFL 12
Azospirillum sp-B510
Nitrobacter
hamburgensis X14
Bradyrhizobium sp-BTAi1
Wolinella
succinogenes DSM 1740
Campylobacter
jejuni subsp. jejuni
Helicobacter
mustelae 12198
Bacillus
cereus Rock1-15
Acidovorax
ebreus TPSY
uncultured Termite group 1
Clostridium
perfringens D str.
Clostridium
cellulolyticum H10
Parvibaculum
lavamentivorans DS-1
Roseburia
intestinalis L1-82
Neisseria
meningitidis Z2491
Pasteurella
multocida subsp. multocida
Sutterella
wadsworthensis 3 1
gamma proteobacterium HTCC5015
Legionella
pneumophila str. Paris
Parasutterella
excrementihominis YIT 11859
Wolinella
succinogenes DSM 1740
Francisella
novicida U112
The constructs and methods described herein can include the use of any of those Cas9 proteins, and their corresponding guide RNAs or other guide RNAs that are compatible. The Cas9 from Streptococcus thermophilus LMD-9 CRISPR1 system has also been shown to function in human cells in Cong et al (Science 339, 819 (2013)). Cas9 orthologs from N. meningitides are described in Hou et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2013 Sep. 24; 110(39):15644-9 and Esvelt et al., Nat Methods. 2013 November; 10(11):1116-21. Additionally, Jinek et al. showed in vitro that Cas9 orthologs from S. thermophilus and L. innocua, (but not from N meningitidis or C. jejuni, which likely use a different guide RNA), can be guided by a dual S. pyogenes gRNA to cleave target plasmid DNA, albeit with slightly decreased efficiency.
In some embodiments, the present system utilizes the Cas9 protein from S. pyogenes, either as encoded in bacteria or codon-optimized for expression in mammalian cells, containing mutations at D10, E762, H983, or D986 and H840 or N863, e.g., D10A/D10N and H840A/H840N/H840Y, to render the nuclease portion of the protein catalytically inactive; substitutions at these positions could be alanine (as they are in Nishimasu al., Cell 156, 935-949 (2014)) or they could be other residues, e.g., glutamine, asparagine, tyrosine, serine, or aspartate, e.g., E762Q, H983N, H983Y, D986N, N863D, N863S, or N863H (
In some embodiments, the Cas9 nuclease used herein is at least about 50% identical to the sequence of S. pyogenes Cas9, i.e., at least 50% identical to SEQ ID NO:33. In some embodiments, the nucleotide sequences are about 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, 99% or 100% identical to SEQ ID NO:33. In some embodiments, any differences from SEQ ID NO:33 are in non-conserved regions, as identified by sequence alignment of sequences set forth in Chylinski et al., RNA Biology 10:5, 1-12; 2013 (e.g., in supplementary
To determine the percent identity of two sequences, the sequences are aligned for optimal comparison purposes (gaps are introduced in one or both of a first and a second amino acid or nucleic acid sequence as required for optimal alignment, and non-homologous sequences can be disregarded for comparison purposes). The length of a reference sequence aligned for comparison purposes is at least 50% (in some embodiments, about 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 85%, 90%, 95%, or 100% of the length of the reference sequence is aligned). The nucleotides or residues at corresponding positions are then compared. When a position in the first sequence is occupied by the same nucleotide or residue as the corresponding position in the second sequence, then the molecules are identical at that position. The percent identity between the two sequences is a function of the number of identical positions shared by the sequences, taking into account the number of gaps, and the length of each gap, which need to be introduced for optimal alignment of the two sequences.
The comparison of sequences and determination of percent identity between two sequences can be accomplished using a mathematical algorithm. For purposes of the present application, the percent identity between two amino acid sequences is determined using the Needleman and Wunsch ((1970) J. Mol. Biol. 48:444-453) algorithm which has been incorporated into the GAP program in the GCG software package, using a Blossum 62 scoring matrix with a gap penalty of 12, a gap extend penalty of 4, and a frameshift gap penalty of 5.
Cas9-HFD
Cas9-HFD are described in a U.S. Provisional Patent Applications U.S. Ser. No. 61/799,647, Filed on Mar. 15, 2013, U.S. Ser. No. 61/838,148, filed on Jun. 21, 2013, and PCT International Application No. PCT/US14/27335, all of which are incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The Cas9-HFD are created by fusing a heterologous functional domain (e.g., a transcriptional activation domain, e.g., from VP64 or NF-κB p65), to the N-terminus or C-terminus of a catalytically inactive Cas9 protein (dCas9). In the present case, as noted above, the dCas9 can be from any species but is preferably from S. pyogenes, In some embodiments, the Cas9 contains mutations in the D10 and H840 residues, e.g., D10N/D10A and H840A/H840N/H840Y, to render the nuclease portion of the protein catalytically inactive, e.g., as shown in SEQ ID NO:33 above.
The transcriptional activation domains can be fused on the N or C terminus of the Cas9. In addition, although the present description exemplifies transcriptional activation domains, other heterologous functional domains (e.g., transcriptional repressors (e.g., KRAB, ERD, SID, and others, e.g., amino acids 473-530 of the ets2 repressor factor (ERF) repressor domain (ERD), amino acids 1-97 of the KRAB domain of KOX1, or amino acids 1-36 of the Mad mSIN3 interaction domain (SID); see Beerli et al., PNAS USA 95:14628-14633 (1998)) or silencers such as Heterochromatin Protein 1 (HP1, also known as swi6), e.g., HP1α or HP1β; proteins or peptides that could recruit long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) fused to a fixed RNA binding sequence such as those bound by the MS2 coat protein, endoribonuclease Csy4, or the lambda N protein; enzymes that modify the methylation state of DNA (e.g., DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) or TET proteins); or enzymes that modify histone subunits (e.g., histone acetyltransferases (HAT), histone deacetylases (HDAC), histone methyltransferases (e.g., for methylation of lysine or arginine residues) or histone demethylases (e.g., for demethylation of lysine or arginine residues)) as are known in the art can also be used. A number of sequences for such domains are known in the art, e.g., a domain that catalyzes hydroxylation of methylated cytosines in DNA. Exemplary proteins include the Ten-Eleven-Translocation (TET)1-3 family, enzymes that converts 5-methylcytosine (5-mC) to 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5-hmC) in DNA.
Sequences for human TET1-3 are known in the art and are shown in the following table:
In some embodiments, all or part of the full-length sequence of the catalytic domain can be included, e.g., a catalytic module comprising the cysteine-rich extension and the 2OGFeDO domain encoded by 7 highly conserved exons, e.g., the Tet1 catalytic domain comprising amino acids 1580-2052, Tet2 comprising amino acids 1290-1905 and Tet1 comprising amino acids 966-1678. See, e.g.,
Other catalytic modules can be from the proteins identified in Iyer et al., 2009.
In some embodiments, the heterologous functional domain is a biological tether, and comprises all or part of (e.g., DNA binding domain from) the MS2 coat protein, endoribonuclease Csy4, or the lambda N protein. These proteins can be used to recruit RNA molecules containing a specific stem-loop structure to a locale specified by the dCas9 gRNA targeting sequences. For example, a dCas9 fused to MS2 coat protein, endoribonuclease Csy4, or lambda N can be used to recruit a long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) such as XIST or HOTAIR; see, e.g., Keryer-Bibens et al., Biol. Cell 100:125-138 (2008), that is linked to the Csy4, MS2 or lambda N binding sequence. Alternatively, the Csy4, MS2 or lambda N protein binding sequence can be linked to another protein, e.g., as described in Keryer-Bibens et al., supra, and the protein can be targeted to the dCas9 binding site using the methods and compositions described herein. In some embodiments, the Csy4 is catalytically inactive.
In some embodiments, the fusion proteins include a linker between the dCas9 and the heterologous functional domains. Linkers that can be used in these fusion proteins (or between fusion proteins in a concatenated structure) can include any sequence that does not interfere with the function of the fusion proteins. In preferred embodiments, the linkers are short, e.g., 2-20 amino acids, and are typically flexible (i.e., comprising amino acids with a high degree of freedom such as glycine, alanine, and serine). In some embodiments, the linker comprises one or more units consisting of GGGS (SEQ ID NO:34) or GGGGS (SEQ ID NO:35), e.g., two, three, four, or more repeats of the GGGS (SEQ ID NO:34) or GGGGS (SEQ ID NO:35) unit. Other linker sequences can also be used.
Expression Systems
In order to use the guide RNAs described, it may be desirable to express them from a nucleic acid that encodes them. This can be performed in a variety of ways. For example, the nucleic acid encoding the guide RNA can be cloned into an intermediate vector for transformation into prokaryotic or eukaryotic cells for replication and/or expression. Intermediate vectors are typically prokaryote vectors, e.g., plasmids, or shuttle vectors, or insect vectors, for storage or manipulation of the nucleic acid encoding the guide RNA for production of the guide RNA. The nucleic acid encoding the guide RNA can also be cloned into an expression vector, for administration to a plant cell, animal cell, preferably a mammalian cell or a human cell, fungal cell, bacterial cell, or protozoan cell.
To obtain expression, a sequence encoding a guide RNA is typically subcloned into an expression vector that contains a promoter to direct transcription. Suitable bacterial and eukaryotic promoters are well known in the art and described, e.g., in Sambrook et al., Molecular Cloning, A Laboratory Manual (3d ed. 2001); Kriegler, Gene Transfer and Expression: A Laboratory Manual (1990); and Current Protocols in Molecular Biology (Ausubel et al., eds., 2010). Bacterial expression systems for expressing the engineered protein are available in, e.g., E. coli, Bacillus sp., and Salmonella (Palva et al., 1983, Gene 22:229-235). Kits for such expression systems are commercially available. Eukaryotic expression systems for mammalian cells, yeast, and insect cells are well known in the art and are also commercially available.
The promoter used to direct expression of a nucleic acid depends on the particular application. For example, a strong constitutive promoter is typically used for expression and purification of fusion proteins. In contrast, when the guide RNA is to be administered in vivo for gene regulation, either a constitutive or an inducible promoter can be used, depending on the particular use of the guide RNA. In addition, a preferred promoter for administration of the guide RNA can be a weak promoter, such as HSV TK or a promoter having similar activity. The promoter can also include elements that are responsive to transactivation, e.g., hypoxia response elements, Gal4 response elements, lac repressor response element, and small molecule control systems such as tetracycline-regulated systems and the RU-486 system (see, e.g., Gossen & Bujard, 1992, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 89:5547; Oligino et al., 1998, Gene Ther., 5:491-496; Wang et al., 1997, Gene Ther., 4:432-441; Neering et al., 1996, Blood, 88:1147-55; and Rendahl et al., 1998, Nat. Biotechnol., 16:757-761).
In addition to the promoter, the expression vector typically contains a transcription unit or expression cassette that contains all the additional elements required for the expression of the nucleic acid in host cells, either prokaryotic or eukaryotic. A typical expression cassette thus contains a promoter operably linked, e.g., to the nucleic acid sequence encoding the gRNA, and any signals required, e.g., for efficient polyadenylation of the transcript, transcriptional termination, ribosome binding sites, or translation termination. Additional elements of the cassette may include, e.g., enhancers, and heterologous spliced intronic signals.
The particular expression vector used to transport the genetic information into the cell is selected with regard to the intended use of the gRNA, e.g., expression in plants, animals, bacteria, fungus, protozoa, etc. Standard bacterial expression vectors include plasmids such as pBR322 based plasmids, pSKF, pET23D, and commercially available tag-fusion expression systems such as GST and LacZ.
Expression vectors containing regulatory elements from eukaryotic viruses are often used in eukaryotic expression vectors, e.g., SV40 vectors, papilloma virus vectors, and vectors derived from Epstein-Barr virus. Other exemplary eukaryotic vectors include pMSG; pAV009/A+, pMTO10/A+, pMAMneo-5, baculovirus pDSVE, and any other vector allowing expression of proteins under the direction of the SV40 early promoter, SV40 late promoter, metallothionein promoter, murine mammary tumor virus promoter, Rous sarcoma virus promoter, polyhedrin promoter, or other promoters shown effective for expression in eukaryotic cells.
The vectors for expressing the guide RNAs can include RNA Pol III promoters to drive expression of the guide RNAs, e.g., the H1, U6 or 7SK promoters. These human promoters allow for expression of gRNAs in mammalian cells following plasmid transfection. Alternatively, a T7 promoter may be used, e.g., for in vitro transcription, and the RNA can be transcribed in vitro and purified. Vectors suitable for the expression of short RNAs, e.g., siRNAs, shRNAs, or other small RNAs, can be used.
Some expression systems have markers for selection of stably transfected cell lines such as thymidine kinase, hygromycin B phosphotransferase, and dihydrofolate reductase. High yield expression systems are also suitable, such as using a baculovirus vector in insect cells, with the gRNA encoding sequence under the direction of the polyhedrin promoter or other strong baculovirus promoters.
The elements that are typically included in expression vectors also include a replicon that functions in E. coli, a gene encoding antibiotic resistance to permit selection of bacteria that harbor recombinant plasmids, and unique restriction sites in nonessential regions of the plasmid to allow insertion of recombinant sequences.
Standard transfection methods are used to produce bacterial, mammalian, yeast or insect cell lines that express large quantities of protein, which are then purified using standard techniques (see, e.g., Colley et al., 1989, J. Biol. Chem., 264:17619-22; Guide to Protein Purification, in Methods in Enzymology, vol. 182 (Deutscher, ed., 1990)). Transformation of eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells are performed according to standard techniques (see, e.g., Morrison, 1977, J. Bacteriol. 132:349-351; Clark-Curtiss & Curtiss, Methods in Enzymology 101:347-362 (Wu et al., eds, 1983).
Any of the known procedures for introducing foreign nucleotide sequences into host cells may be used. These include the use of calcium phosphate transfection, polybrene, protoplast fusion, electroporation, nucleofection, liposomes, microinjection, naked DNA, plasmid vectors, viral vectors, both episomal and integrative, and any of the other well-known methods for introducing cloned genomic DNA, cDNA, synthetic DNA or other foreign genetic material into a host cell (see, e.g., Sambrook et al., supra). It is only necessary that the particular genetic engineering procedure used be capable of successfully introducing at least one gene into the host cell capable of expressing the gRNA.
The present invention includes the vectors and cells comprising the vectors.
The invention is further described in the following examples, which do not limit the scope of the invention described in the claims.
CRISPR RNA-guided nucleases (RGNs) have rapidly emerged as a facile and efficient platform for genome editing. This example describes the use of a human cell-based reporter assay to characterize off-target cleavage of Cas9-based RGNs.
Materials and Methods
The following materials and methods were used in Example 1.
Construction of Guide RNAs
DNA oligonucleotides (Table A) harboring variable 20 nt sequences for Cas9 targeting were annealed to generate short double-strand DNA fragments with 4 bp overhangs compatible with ligation into BsmBI-digested plasmid pMLM3636. Cloning of these annealed oligonucleotides generates plasmids encoding a chimeric +103 single-chain guide RNA with 20 variable 5′ nucleotides under expression of a U6 promoter (Hwang et al., Nat Biotechnol 31, 227-229 (2013); Mali et al., Science 339, 823-826 (2013)). pMLM3636 and the expression plasmid pJDS246 (encoding a codon optimized version of Cas9) used in this study are both available through the non-profit plasmid distribution service Addgene (addgene.org/crispr-cas).
EGFP Activity Assays
U2OS.EGFP cells harboring a single integrated copy of an EGFP-PEST fusion gene were cultured as previously described (Reyon et al., Nat Biotech 30, 460-465 (2012)). For transfections, 200,000 cells were Nucleofected with the indicated amounts of sgRNA expression plasmid and pJDS246 together with 30 ng of a Td-tomato-encoding plasmid using the SE Cell Line 4D-Nucleofector™ X Kit (Lonza) according to the manufacturer's protocol. Cells were analyzed 2 days post-transfection using a BD LSRII flow cytometer. Transfections for optimizing gRNA/Cas9 plasmid concentration were performed in triplicate and all other transfections were performed in duplicate.
PCR Amplification and Sequence Verification of Endogenous Human Genomic Sites
PCR reactions were performed using Phusion Hot Start 11 high-fidelity DNA polymerase (NEB) with PCR primers and conditions listed in Table B. Most loci amplified successfully using touchdown PCR (98° C., 10 s; 72-62° C., —1° C./cycle, 15 s; 72° C., 30 s]10 cycles, [98° C., 10 s; 62° C., 15 s; 72° C., 30 s]25 cycles). PCR for the remaining targets were performed with 35 cycles at a constant annealing temperature of 68° C. or 72° C. and 3% DMSO or 1M betaine, if necessary. PCR products were analyzed on a QIAXCEL capillary electrophoresis system to verify both size and purity. Validated products were treated with ExoSap-IT (Affymetrix) and sequenced by the Sanger method (MGH DNA Sequencing Core) to verify each target site.
Determination of RGN-Induced On- and Off-Target Mutation Frequencies in Human Cells
For U2OS.EGFP and K562 cells, 2×105 cells were transfected with 250 ng of gRNA expression plasmid or an empty U6 promoter plasmid (for negative controls), 750 ng of Cas9 expression plasmid, and 30 ng of td-Tomato expression plasmid using the 4D Nucleofector System according to the manufacturer's instructions (Lonza). For HEK293 cells, 1.65×105 cells were transfected with 125 ng of gRNA expression plasmid or an empty U6 promoter plasmid (for the negative control), 375 ng of Cas9 expression plasmid, and 30 ng of a td-Tomato expression plasmid using Lipofectamine LTX reagent according to the manufacturer's instructions (Life Technologies). Genomic DNA was harvested from transfected U2OS.EGFP, HEK293, or K562 cells using the QIAamp DNA Blood Mini Kit (QIAGEN), according to the manufacturer's instructions. To generate enough genomic DNA to amplify the off-target candidate sites, DNA from three Nucleofections (for U2OS.EGFP cells), two Nucleofections (for K562 cells), or two Lipofectamine LTX transfections was pooled together before performing T7EI. This was done twice for each condition tested, thereby generating duplicate pools of genomic DNA representing a total of four or six individual transfections. PCR was then performed using these genomic DNAs as templates as described above and purified using Ampure XP beads (Agencourt) according to the manufacturer's instructions. T7EI assays were performed as previously described (Reyon et al., 2012, supra).
DNA Sequencing of NHEJ-Mediated Indel Mutations
Purified PCR products used for the T7EI assay were cloned into Zero Blunt TOPO vector (Life Technologies) and plasmid DNAs were isolated using an alkaline lysis miniprep method by the MGH DNA Automation Core. Plasmids were sequenced using an M13 forward primer (5′-GTAAAACGACGGCCAG-3′ (SEQ ID NO:1059) by the Sanger method (MGH DNA Sequencing Core).
To begin to define the specificity determinants of RGNs in human cells, a large-scale test was performed to assess the effects of systematically mismatching various positions within multiple gRNA/target DNA interfaces. To do this, a quantitative human cell-based enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) disruption assay previously described (see Methods above and Reyon et al., 2012, supra) that enables rapid quantitation of targeted nuclease activities (
Each of these gRNAs can efficiently direct Cas9-mediated disruption of EGFP expression (see Example 1e and 2a, and
In initial experiments, the effects of single nucleotide mismatches at 19 of 20 nucleotides in the complementary targeting region of three EGFP-targeted gRNAs were tested. To do this, variant gRNAs were generated for each of the three target sites harboring Watson-Crick transversion mismatches at positions 1 through 19 (numbered 1 to 20 in the 3′ to 5′ direction; see
For EGFP target site #2, single mismatches in positions 1-10 of the gRNA have dramatic effects on associated Cas9 activity (
To test the effects of more than one mismatch at the gRNA/DNA interface, a series of variant gRNAs bearing double Watson-Crick transversion mismatches in adjacent and separated positions were created and the abilities of these gRNAs to direct Cas9 nuclease activity were tested in human cells using the EGFP disruption assay. All three target sites generally showed greater sensitivity to double alterations in which one or both mismatches occur within the 3′ half of the gRNA targeting region. However, the magnitude of these effects exhibited site-specific variation, with target site #2 showing the greatest sensitivity to these double mismatches and target site #1 generally showing the least. To test the number of adjacent mismatches that can be tolerated, variant gRNAs were constructed bearing increasing numbers of mismatched positions ranging from positions 19 to 15 in the 5′ end of the gRNA targeting region (where single and double mismatches appeared to be better tolerated).
Testing of these increasingly mismatched gRNAs revealed that for all three target sites, the introduction of three or more adjacent mismatches results in significant loss of RGN activity. A sudden drop off in activity occurred for three different EGFP-targeted gRNAs as one makes progressive mismatches starting from position 19 in the 5′ end and adding more mismatches moving toward the 3′ end. Specifically, gRNAs containing mismatches at positions 19 and 19+18 show essentially full activity whereas those with mismatches at positions 19+18+17, 19+18+17+16, and 19+18+17+16+15 show essentially no difference relative to a negative control (
Additional proof of that shortening gRNA complementarity might lead to RGNs with greater specificities was obtained in the following experiment: for four different EGFP-targeted gRNAs (
Taken together, these results in human cells confirm that the activities of RGNs can be more sensitive to mismatches in the 3′ half of the gRNA targeting sequence. However, the data also clearly reveal that the specificity of RGNs is complex and target site-dependent, with single and double mismatches often well tolerated even when one or more mismatches occur in the 3′ half of the gRNA targeting region. Furthermore, these data also suggest that not all mismatches in the 5′ half of the gRNA/DNA interface are necessarily well tolerated.
In addition, these results strongly suggest that gRNAs bearing shorter regions of complementarity (specifically ˜17 nts) will be more specific in their activities. We note that 17 nts of specificity combined with the 2 nts of specificity conferred by the PAM sequence results in specification of a 19 bp sequence, one of sufficient length to be unique in large complex genomes such as those found in human cells.
To determine whether off-target mutations for RGNs targeted to endogenous human genes could be identified, six single gRNAs that target three different sites in the VEGFA gene, one in the EMX1 gene, one in the RNF2 gene, and one in the FANCF gene were used (Table 1 and Table A). These six gRNAs efficiently directed Cas9-mediated indels at their respective endogenous loci in human U20S.EGFP cells as detected by T7 Endonuclease I (T7EI) assay (Methods above and Table 1). For each of these six RGNs, we then examined dozens of potential off-target sites (ranging in number from 46 to as many as 64) for evidence of nuclease-induced NHEJ-mediated indel mutations in U20S.EGFP cells. The loci assessed included all genomic sites that differ by one or two nucleotides as well as subsets of genomic sites that differ by three to six nucleotides and with a bias toward those that had one or more of these mismatches in the 5′ half of the gRNA targeting sequence (Table B). Using the T7EI assay, four off-target sites (out of 53 candidate sites examined) for VEGFA site 1, twelve (out of 46 examined) for VEGFA site 2, seven (out of 64 examined) for VEGFA site 3 and one (out of 46 examined) for the EMX1 site (Table 1 and Table B) were readily identified. No off-target mutations were detected among the 43 and 50 potential sites examined for the RNF2 or FANCF genes, respectively (Table B). The rates of mutation at verified off-target sites were very high, ranging from 5.6% to 125% (mean of 40%) of the rate observed at the intended target site (Table 1). These bona fide off-targets included sequences with mismatches in the 3′ end of the target site and with as many as a total of five mismatches, with most off-target sites occurring within protein coding genes (Table 1). DNA sequencing of a subset of off-target sites provided additional molecular confirmation that indel mutations occur at the expected RGN cleavage site (
C
GGGGGAGGGAGTTTGCTCCTGG
CTA
CCCCTCCACCCCGCCTCCGG
T
ACCCCCCACACCCCGCCTCTGG
ACA
CCCCCCCACCCCGCCTCAGG
ATT
CCCCCCCACCCCGCCTCAGG
CC
CCACCCCCACCCCGCCTCAGG
CG
CCCTCCCCACCCCGCCTCCGG
CT
CCCCACCCACCCCGCCTCAGG
TG
CCCCTCCCACCCCGCCTCTGG
AGG
CCCCCACACCCCGCCTCAGG
A
GTGAGTGAGTGTGTGTGTGGGG
T
GTGGGTGAGTGTGTGCGTGAGG
A
GAGAGTGAGTGTGTGCATGAGG
Example 1d. Off-Target Mutations in Other Cell Types Having established that RGNs can induce off-target mutations with high frequencies in U20S.EGFP cells, we next sought to determine whether these nucleases would also have these effects in other types of human cells. We had chosen U20S.EGFP cells for our initial experiments because we previously used these cells to evaluate the activities of TALENs15 but human HEK293 and K562 cells have been more widely used to test the activities of targeted nucleases. Therefore, we also assessed the activities of the four RGNs targeted to VEGFA sites 1, 2, and 3 and the EMX1 site in HEK293 and K562 cells. We found that each of these four RGNs efficiently induced NHEJ-mediated indel mutations at their intended on-target site in these two additional human cell lines (as assessed by T7EI assay) (Table 1), albeit with somewhat lower mutation frequencies than those observed in U20S.EGFP cells. Assessment of the 24 off-target sites for these four RGNs originally identified in U2OS.EGFP cells revealed that many were again mutated in HEK293 and K562 cells with frequencies similar to those at their corresponding on-target site (Table 1). As expected, DNA sequencing of a subset of these off-target sites from HEK293 cells provided additional molecular evidence that alterations are occurring at the expected genomic loci (
Single gRNAs were generated for three different sequences (EGFP SITES 1-3, shown above) located upstream of EGFP nucleotide 502, a position at which the introduction of frameshift mutations via non-homologous end-joining can robustly disrupt expression of EGFP (Maeder, M. L. et al., Mol Cell 31, 294-301 (2008); Reyon, D. et al., Nat Biotech 30, 460-465 (2012)).
For each of the three target sites, a range of gRNA-expressing plasmid amounts (12.5 to 250 ng) was initially transfected together with 750 ng of a plasmid expressing a codon-optimized version of the Cas9 nuclease into our U2OS.EGFP reporter cells bearing a single copy, constitutively expressed EGFP-PEST reporter gene. All three RGNs efficiently disrupted EGFP expression at the highest concentration of gRNA-encoding plasmid (250 ng) (
The amount of Cas9-encoding plasmid (range from 50 ng to 750 ng) transfected into our U2OS.EGFP reporter cells was titrated and EGFP disruption assayed. As shown in
The reasons why some gRNA/Cas9 combinations work better than others in disrupting EGFP expression is not understood, nor is why some of these combinations are more or less sensitive to the amount of plasmids used for transfection. Although it is possible that the range of off-target sites present in the genome for these three gRNAs might influence each of their activities, no differences were seen in the numbers of genomic sites that differ by one to six bps for each of these particular target sites (Table C) that would account for the differential behavior of the three gRNAs.
It was hypothesized that off-target effects of RGNs might be minimized without compromising on-target activity simply by decreasing the length of the gRNA-DNA interface, an approach that at first might seem counterintuitive. Longer gRNAs can actually function less efficiently at the on-target site (see below and Hwang et al., 2013a; Ran et al., 2013). In contrast, as shown above in Example 1, gRNAs bearing multiple mismatches at their 5′ ends could still induce robust cleavage of their target sites (
Experimental Procedures
The following experimental procedures were used in Example 2.
Plasmid Construction
All gRNA expression plasmids were assembled by designing, synthesizing, annealing, and cloning pairs of oligonucleotides (IDT) harboring the complementarity region into plasmid pMLM3636 (available from Addgene) as described above (Example 1). The resulting gRNA expression vectors encode a ˜100 nt gRNA whose expression is driven by a human U6 promoter. The sequences of all oligonucleotides used to construct gRNA expression vectors are shown in Table D. The Cas9 D10A nickase expression plasmid (pJDS271) bearing a mutation in the RuvC endonuclease domain was generated by mutating plasmid pJDS246 using a QuikChange kit (Agilent Technologies) with the following primers: Cas9 D10A sense primer 5% tggataaaaagtattctattggtttagccatcggcactaattccg-3′ (SEQ ID NO:1089); Cas9 D10A antisense primer 5′-cggaattagtgccgatggctaaaccaatagaatactttttatcca-3′ (SEQ ID NO:1090). All the targeted gRNA plasmids and the Cas9 nickase plasmids used in this study are available through the non-profit plasmid distribution service Addgene (addgene.org/crispr-cas).
Human Cell-Based EGFP Disruption Assay
U2OS.EGFP cells harboring a single-copy, integrated EGFP-PEST gene reporter have been previously described (Reyon et al., 2012). These cells were maintained in Advanced DMEM (Life Technologies) supplemented with 10% FBS, 2 mM GlutaMax (Life Technologies), penicillin/streptomycin and 400 μg/ml G418. To assay for disruption of EGFP expression, 2×105 U2OS.EGFP cells were transfected in duplicate with gRNA expression plasmid or an empty U6 promoter plasmid as a negative control, Cas9 expression plasmid (pJDS246) (Example 1 and Fu et al., 2013), and 10 ng of td-Tomato expression plasmid (to control for transfection efficiency) using a LONZA 4D-Nucleofector™, with SE solution and DN100 program according to the manufacturer's instructions. We used 25 ng/250 ng, 250 ng/750 ng, 200 ng/750 ng, and 250 ng/750 ng of gRNA expression plasmid/Cas9 expression plasmid for experiments with EGFP site #1, #2, #3, and #4, respectively. Two days following transfection, cells were trypsinized and resuspended in Dulbecco's modified Eagle medium (DMEM, Invitrogen) supplemented with 10% (vol/vol) fetal bovine serum (FBS) and analyzed on a BD LSRII flow cytometer. For each sample, transfections and flow cytometry measurements were performed in duplicate.
Transfection of Human Cells and Isolation of Genomic DNA
To assess the on-target and off-target indel mutations induced by RGNs targeted to endogenous human genes, plasmids were transfected into U2OS.EGFP or HEK293 cells using the following conditions: U2OS.EGFP cells were transfected using the same conditions as for the EGFP disruption assay described above. HEK293 cells were transfected by seeding them at a density of 1.65×105 cells per well in 24 well plates in Advanced DMEM (Life Technologies) supplemented with 10% FBS and 2 mM GlutaMax (Life Technologies) at 37° C. in a CO2 incubator. After 22-24 hours of incubation, cells were transfected with 125 ng of gRNA expression plasmid or an empty U6 promoter plasmid (as a negative control), 375 ng of Cas9 expression plasmid (pJDS246) (Example 1 and Fu et al., 2013), and 10 ng of a td-Tomato expression plasmid, using Lipofectamine LTX reagent according to the manufacturer's instructions (Life Technologies). Medium was changed 16 hours after transfection. For both types of cells, genomic DNA was harvested two days post-transfection using an Agencourt DNAdvance genomic DNA isolation kit (Beckman) according to the manufacturer's instructions. For each RGN sample to be assayed, 12 individual 4D transfection replicates were performed, genomic DNA was isolated from each of these 12 transfections, and then these samples were combined to create two “duplicate” pools each consisting of six pooled genomic DNA samples. Indel mutations were then assessed at on-target and off-target sites from these duplicate samples by T7EI assay, Sanger sequencing, and/or deep sequencing as described below.
To assess frequencies of precise alterations introduced by HDR with ssODN donor templates, 2×105 U20S.EGFP cells were transfected 250 ng of gRNA expression plasmid or an empty U6 promoter plasmid (as a negative control), 750 ng Cas9 expression plasmid (pJDS246), 50 pmol of ssODN donor (or no ssODN for controls), and 10 ng of td-Tomato expression plasmid (as the transfection control). Genomic DNA was purified three days after transfection using Agencourt DNAdvance and assayed for the introduction of a BamHI site at the locus of interest as described below. All of these transfections were performed in duplicate.
For experiments involving Cas9 nickases, 2×105 U20S.EGFP cells were transfected with 125 ng of each gRNA expression plasmid (if using paired gRNAs) or 250 ng of gRNA expression plasmid (if using a single gRNA), 750 ng of Cas9-D10A nickase expression plasmid (pJDS271), 10 ng of td-Tomato plasmid, and (if performing HDR) 50 pmol of ssODN donor template (encoding the BamHI site). All transfections were performed in duplicate. Genomic DNA harvested two days after transfection (if assaying for indel mutations) or three days after transfection (if assaying for HDR/ssODN-mediated alterations) using the Agencourt DNAdvance genomic DNA isolation kit (Beckman).
T7EI Assays for Quantifying Frequencies of Indel Mutations
T7EI assays were performed as previously described (Example 1 and Fu et al., 2013). In brief, PCR reactions to amplify specific on-target or off-target sites were performed with Phusion high-fidelity DNA polymerase (New England Biolabs) using one of the two following programs: (1) Touchdown PCR program [(98° C., 10 s; 72-62° C., —1° C./cycle, 15 s; 72° C., 30 s)×10 cycles, (98° C., 10 s; 62° C., 15 s; 72° C., 30 s)×25 cycles] or (2) Constant Tm PCR program [(98° C., 10 s; 68° C. or 72° C., 15 s; 72° C., 30 s)×35 cycles], with 3% DMSO or 1 M betaine if necessary. All primers used for these amplifications are listed in Table E. Resulting PCR products ranged in size from 300 to 800 bps and were purified by Ampure XP beads (Agencourt) according to the manufacturer's instructions. 200 ng of purified PCR products were hybridized in 1× NEB buffer 2 in a total volume of 19 μl and denatured to form heteroduplexes using the following conditions: 95° C., 5 minutes; 95 to 85° C., −2° C./s; 85 to 25° C., −0.1° C./s; hold at 4° C. 1 μl of T7 Endonuclease I (New England Biolabs, 10 units/μl) was added to the hybridized PCR products and incubated at 37° C. for 15 minutes. The T7EI reaction was stopped by adding 2 μl of 0.25 M EDTA solution and the reaction products were purified using AMPure XP beads (Agencourt) with elution in 20 μl 0.1×EB buffer (QIAgen). Reactions products were then analyzed on a QIAXCEL capillary electrophoresis system and the frequencies of indel mutations were calculated using the same formula as previously described (Reyon et al., 2012).
CGGGGGAGGGAG
GTTGCTCCAGG
CCTGCTCCAGG
AGGTGGTGGGAG
CTTGTTCCTGG
AGTTTGGGGGAG
ATGTGTGGGGAA
CAGTGGGGGGAG
CTTTCTCCTGG
GTTGCTCCTGG
ATTGCTCCAGG
TAGTGGAGGGAG
CTTGCTCCTGG
TGCTCGGGGGAG
TGGAGAGGGGAG
TGGTGTTGGGAG
TTGGGGGGGCAG
AAGTAAGGGAAG
AGAAGAGGGGAT
ATCTGGGGTGAT
CTCTGCTGGGAG
CTGGTGGGGGAG
CTTGCTCCAGG
CTTTCGGGGGAG
CTTTGGGGTTAG
TCCTGAGGGCAG
TCTTTGGGAGAG
ACAACTGGGGAG
ACAAGGTGGAAG
ACATAGAAGGAG
AGACCCAGGGAG
AGACCCAGGGAG
CACGGAGGGGTG
CAGAGCTTGGAG
CTATTGATGGAG
CTTTCTAGGGAG
AACCCCATCCAC
CACCCCCTCAAC
ACCGCCTCAGG
CACCCCCTCCCC
TCCGCCTCAGG
CTACCCCTCCAC
TACCCCCCACAC
AACCCATTCCAC
ACACCCCCCCAC
AGCCCCCACCTC
ATTCCCCCCCAC
CCCCACCCCCAC
CCCCCCCACCAC
CCCCCCCCCCCC
CGCCCTCCCCAC
CTCCCCACCCAC
CTCTCCCCCCAC
CTCTCCCCCCACCC
TGCCCCCTCCCC
TGCCCCTCCCAC
TTCCCCTTCCAC
TTCTCCCTCCTC
ACCCTCGCCCAC
AGCCAACCCCAC
AGGCCCCCACAC
AGGCCCCCCCGC
ATCTGCCACCAC
CATCTTCCCCAC
CTTTCCCTCCAC
TCAGACCTCCAC
TGCAACCTCCTC
ACCAGTCTGCAC
ACTACCCACCTC
ATTTCCCCCCCC
ATTTCCTCCCCCCC
CCACCATCCCAC
CCCAAGCCCCAC
CCGCGCTTCCGC
CCTGCCATGCAC
CTGCCTCCTCAC
TCTTCTTTCCAC
TTGACCCCCCGC
AGTGAGTGAGTG
AGTGTGTGAGTG
AGTGAGTGAGG
AGTGAGTGAGG
CGTGCGGGTGG
TGTGGGTGAGTG
ACTGTGTGAGTG
AGAGAGTGAGTG
AGCGAGTGGGTG
AGGGAGTGACTG
AGTGAGTGAGTG
AGTGAGTGAGG
CATGAGTGAGTG
CGTGAGTGTGTG
TGAGTGTGAGTG
TGCCAGTGAGTG
TGGGTGTGAGTG
TGTATGTGAGTG
TGTGAGAGAGAG
TGTGCCTGAGTG
TGTGTGTGTGTG
AGCGTGTGAGTG
ATTGAGTGTGTG
AGTGCGTGGGG
CATGTGTGGGTG
CCCGAGTGTGTG
CTGGAGTGAGTG
TATGTGTGCGTG
TATGTGTGTGTG
TCTGTGTGTGTG
TCTGTGTGTGTG
TGAGCGTGAGTG
TGTCTTTGAGTG
TTTGTGTGTGTG
AAGGCGTGTGTG
AATTCGTGTGTG
ATGGTGTGTGTG
CACGTGTGTGTG
TAAGTGTGTGTG
TATATGTGTGTG
TATCTGTGTGTG
TTTATGTGTGTG
TTTTTGTGTGTG
AAAAATTGTGTG
ACAATGTGTGTG
ATGTGGTGTGTG
CAAAATTGTGTG
CCCTGGTGTGTG
TCCGCTTGTGTG
TTAAGGTGGGTG
TTATATTGTGTG
TTGAGGAGAGTG
AAGTCAGAGGAG
AAGACAGAGGAGAA
AAGTCCGAGGAG
AAGTCTGAGCAC
ACGTCTGAGCAG
GAGAAGAAAGG
AAATCCAACCAG
AAGTCTGAGGAC
AAGTTGGAGCAG
GAGAAGAAGGG
AATACAGAGCAG
AGGTACTAGCAG
AGGTGCTAGCAG
AGGTGGGAGCAG
CAAACGGAGCAG
CACTCTGAGGAG
CAGTCATGGCAG
CCGTCCCAGCAG
TAGAAGAATGG
TAATCCAATCAG
TATACGGAGCAG
ACTTCCCTGCAG
AGGACTGGGCAG
AGGTTGGAGAAG
AGTTCAGAGCAG
GAGAAGAATGG
ATGACACAGCAG
ATGACAGAGAAG
CCGCCCCTGCAG
TATGGCAAGCAG
TGGTGGGATCAG
ACCCACGGGCAG
ACTCCTGATCAG
ACTGATGAGCAG
ATTTTAGTGCAG
ATTTTAGTGCAG
CCATGGCAGCAG
CCATTACAGCAG
CGAGGCGGGCAG
TCATTGCAGCAG
TCATTGCAGCAGAA
TCATTGTAGCAGAA
TCTCCAGGGCAG
CTTACCTGAGG
AATATGTTAGTC
ATAAACGTAGTC
ATCATCATCGTC
ATCATTTTACTC
ATCATTTTAGTC
CACAGCTTAGTC
CCCAGCTTAGTC
CTCACCTTTGTC
CTCATTTTATTC
CTCTCCTTAGTC
CTTATCTCTGTC
TACATCTTAGTC
CTCACCTGTGG
TCCATCTCACTC
TCCATCTCACTCAT
TCCATCTCACTCAT
TTCATCCTAGTC
TTTATATTAGTG
TTTATATTAGTGAT
AACGTGTAAGTC
AAGATCACAGTC
AGAATATTAGTC
AGCAGATTAGTG
AGTAGCTTAGTG
CACGGCTTACTC
CATATGTTAGGC
CATTTCTTAGTC
TGCAGCTAACTC
TTGCTTTTAGTT
AACTTGAAAGTC
AAGGTCACAGTC
AATGTCTTCATC
AGATGCTTGGTC
AGTAGATTAGTT
AGTAGGTTAGTA
CAAATGAGAGTC
CATGTCTGAATC
CCTGACTTGGTC
CGTGCATTAGTC
ACAGCACCAGG
CCAGCCCCTGG
TCAGCATCTGG
ACAGCACCAGG
ACAGCACCAGG
TGAATCCCATCT
CCAGCACCAGG
AAAATACCTTCT
AAAATCCCTTCT
TCAACACCTGG
ACACTCCCTCCT
ACCATCCCTCCT
AGAGGCCCCTCT
AGGATCCCTTGT
CCACTCCTTTCT
TCATTCCCGTCT
TGCACCCCTCCT
TGCATACCCTCT
TGCATGGCTTCT
AATATTCCCTCT
ACCATTTCTTCT
AGCTCCCATTCT
CAGATTCCTGCT
CAGATTACTGCTGC
CCAAGAGCTTCT
CCCAGCCCTGCT
CCCCTCCCTCCT
CTACTGACTTCT
CTCCTCCCTCCT
TCTGTCCCTCCT
ACACAAACTTCT
ACACAAACTTCTGC
ACACAAACTTCTGC
ACTGTCATTTCT
ACTTTATCTTCT
ATCCTTTCTTCT
CACCACCGTTCT
CATGTGGCTTCT
CATTTTCTTTCT
CTCTGTCCTTCT
CTGTACCCTCCT
TTGAGGCCGTCT
Sanger Sequencing for Quantifying Frequencies of Indel Mutations
Purified PCR products used for T7EI assay were ligated into a Zero Blunt TOPO vector (Life Technologies) and transformed into chemically competent Top 10 bacterial cells. Plasmid DNAs were isolated and sequenced by the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) DNA Automation Core, using an M13 forward primer (5′-GTAAAACGACGGCCAG-3′) (SEQ ID NO:1059).
Restriction Digest Assay for Quantifying Specific Alterations Induced by HDR with ssODNs
PCR reactions of specific on-target sites were performed using Phusion high-fidelity DNA polymerase (New England Biolabs). The VEGF and EMX1 loci were amplified using a touchdown PCR program ((98° C., 10 s; 72-62° C., —1° C./cycle, 15 s; 72° C., 30 s)×10 cycles, (98° C., 10 s; 62° C., 15 s; 72° C., 30 s)×25 cycles), with 3% DMSO. The primers used for these PCR reactions are listed in Table E. PCR products were purified by Ampure XP beads (Agencourt) according to the manufacturer's instructions. For detection of the BamHI restriction site encoded by the ssODN donor template, 200 ng of purified PCR products were digested with BamHI at 37° C. for 45 minutes. The digested products were purified by Ampure XP beads (Agencourt), eluted in 20ul 0.1×EB buffer and analyzed and quantified using a QIAXCEL capillary electrophoresis system.
TruSeq Library Generation and Sequencing Data Analysis
Locus-specific primers were designed to flank on-target and potential and verified off-target sites to produce PCR products ˜300 bp to 400 bps in length. Genomic DNAs from the pooled duplicate samples described above were used as templates for PCR. All PCR products were purified by Ampure XP beads (Agencourt) per the manufacturer's instructions. Purified PCR products were quantified on a QIAXCEL capillary electrophoresis system. PCR products for each locus were amplified from each of the pooled duplicate samples (described above), purified, quantified, and then pooled together in equal quantities for deep sequencing. Pooled amplicons were ligated with dual-indexed Illumina TruSeq adaptors as previously described (Fisher et al., 2011). The libraries were purified and run on a QIAXCEL capillary electrophoresis system to verify change in size following adaptor ligation. The adapter-ligated libraries were quantified by qPCR and then sequenced using Illumina MiSeq 250 bp paired-end reads performed by the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Molecular Biology Core Facilities. We analyzed between 75,000 and 1,270,000 (average ˜422,000) reads for each sample. The TruSeq reads were analyzed for rates of indel mutagenesis as previously described (Sander et al., 2013). Specificity ratios were calculated as the ratio of observed mutagenesis at an on-target locus to that of a particular off-target locus as determined by deep sequencing. Fold-improvements in specificity with tru-RGNs for individual off-target sites were calculated as the specificity ratio observed with tru-gRNAs to the specificity ratio for that same target with the matched full-length gRNA. As mentioned in the text, for some of the off-target sites, no indel mutations were detected with tru-gRNAs. In these cases, we used a Poisson calculator to determine with a 95% confidence that the upper limit of the actual number of mutated sequences would be three in number. We then used this upper bound to estimate the minimum fold-improvement in specificity for these off-target sites.
To test the hypothesis that gRNAs truncated at their 5′ end might function as efficiently as their full-length counterparts, a series of progressively shorter gRNAs were initially constructed as described above for a single target site in the EGFP reporter gene, with the following sequence: 5′-
This particular EGFP site was chosen because it was possible to make gRNAs to it with 15, 17, 19, and 20 nts of complementarity that each have a G at their 5′ end (required for efficient expression from the U6 promoter used in these experiments). Using a human cell-based reporter assay in which the frequency of RGN-induced indels could be quantified by assessing disruption of a single integrated and constitutively expressed enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) gene (Example 1 and Fu et al., 2013; Reyon et al., 2012) (
As noted above, gRNAs bearing longer lengths of complementarity (21, 23, and 25 nts) exhibit decreased activities relative to the standard full-length gRNA containing 20 nts of complementary sequence (
To test the generality of these initial findings, full-length gRNAs and matched gRNAs bearing 18, 17 and/or 16 nts of complementarity to four additional EGFP reporter gene sites (EGFP sites #1, #2, #3, and #4;
Whether tru-RGNs could efficiently induce indels on chromatinized endogenous gene targets was tested next. Tru-gRNAs were constructed for seven sites in three endogenous human genes (VEGFA, EMX1, and CLTA), including four sites that had previously been targeted with standard full-length gRNAs in three endogenous human genes: VEGFA site 1, VEGFA site 3, EMX1, and CTLA (Example 1 and Fu et al., 2013; Hsu et al., 2013; Pattanayak et al., 2013) (
We also found that tru-gRNAs bearing a mismatched 5′ G and an 18 nt complementarity region could efficiently direct Cas9-induced indels whereas those bearing a mismatched 5′ G and a 17 nt complementarity region showed lower or undetectable activities compared with matched full-length gRNAs (
To further assess the genome-editing capabilities of tru-RGNs, their abilities to induce precise sequence alterations via HDR with ssODN donor templates were tested. Previous studies have shown that Cas9-induced breaks can stimulate the introduction of sequence from a homologous ssODN donor into an endogenous locus in human cells (Cong et al., 2013; Mali et al., 2013c; Ran et al., 2013; Yang et al., 2013). Therefore, the abilities were compared of matched full-length and tru-gRNAs targeted to VEGFA site 1 and to the EMX1 site to introduce a BamHI restriction site encoded on homologous ssODNs into these endogenous genes. At both sites, tru-RGNs mediated introduction of the BamHI site with efficiencies comparable to those seen with standard RGNs harboring their full-length gRNA counterparts (
Having established that tru-RGNs can function efficiently to induce on-target genome editing alterations, whether these nucleases would show greater sensitivity to mismatches at the gRNA/DNA interface was tested. To assess this, a systematic series of variants was constructed for the tru-gRNAs that were previously tested on EGFP sites #1, #2, and #3 (
Encouraged by the increased sensitivity of tru-RGNs to single nucleotide mismatches, we next sought to examine the effects of systematically mismatching two adjacent positions at the gRNA-DNA interface. We therefore made variants of the tru-gRNAs targeted to EGFP target sites #1, #2, and #3, each bearing Watson-Crick transversion substitutions at two adjacent nucleotide positions (
The next experiments were performed to determine whether tru-RGNs might show reduced genomic off-target effects in human cells relative to standard RGNs harboring full-length gRNA counterparts. We examined matched full-length and tru-gRNAs targeted to VEGFA site 1, VEGFA site 3, and EMX1 site 1 (described in
To quantify the magnitude of specificity improvement observed with tru-RGNs, we measured off-target mutation frequencies using high-throughput sequencing, which provides a more sensitive method for detecting and quantifying low frequency mutations than the T7EI assay. We assessed a subset of 12 of the 13 bona fide off-target sites for which we had seen decreased mutation rates with tru-gRNAs by T7EI assay (for technical reasons, we were unable to amplify the required shorter amplicon for one of the sites) and also examined an additional off-target site for EMX1 site 1 that had been identified by another group? (
To further explore the specificity of tru-RGNs, we examined their abilities to induce off-target mutations at additional closely related sites in the human genome. For the tru-gRNAs to VEGFA site 1 and EMX1, which each possess 18 nts of target site complementarity, we computationally identified all additional sites in the human genome mismatched at one or two positions within the complementarity region (not already examined above in Table 3A) and a subset of all sites mismatched at three positions among which we favored mismatches in the 5′ end of the site as described in Example 1. For the tru-gRNA to VEGFA site 3, which possesses 17 nts of target site complementarity, we identified all sites mismatched at one position and a subset of all sites mismatched at two positions among which mismatches in the 5′ end were favored (again not already examined in Table 3A). This computational analysis yielded a total of 30, 30, and 34 additional potential off-target sites for the tru-RGNs targeted to VEGFA site 1, VEFGA site 3, and the EMX1 site, respectively, which we then assessed for mutations using T7EI assay in human U2OS.EGFP and HEK293 cells in which the RGNs had been expressed.
Strikingly, the three tru-RGNs to VEGFA site 1, VEFGA site 3, and EMX1 did not induce detectable Cas9-mediated indel mutations at 93 of the 94 potential off-target sites examined in human U2OS.EGFP cells or at any of the 94 potential off-target sites in human HEK293 cells (Table 3C). For the one site at which off-target mutations were seen, whether the standard RGN with a full-length gRNA targeted to VEGFA site 1 could also mutagenize this same off-target site was examined; it induced detectable mutations albeit at a slightly lower frequency (
Deep sequencing of a subset of the 30 most closely matched potential off-target sites from this set of 94 site (i.e.—those with one or two mismatches) showed either undetectable or very low rates of indel mutations (Table 3D) comparable to what we observed at other previously identified off-target sites (Table 3B). We conclude that tru-RGNs generally appear to induce either very low or undetectable levels of mutations at sites that differ by one or two mismatches from the on-target site. This contrasts with standard RGNs for which it was relatively easy to find high-frequency off-target mutations at sites that differed by as many as five mismatches (see Example 1).
A
TGGAGGGAGTTTGCTCCtGG
C
GGGGGAGGGAGTTTGCTCCtGG
A
GTGAGTGAGTGTGTGTGTGgGG
T
GTGGGTGAGTGTGTGCGTGaGG
A
GAGAGTGAGTGTGTGCATGaGG
Freq.=frequency of indel mutations=number of indel sequences/number of wild-type sequences. Control gRNA=gRNA lacking a complementarity region
CTGCTGGGAGTTTGCTCCtGG
TTTGGGAGAGTTTGCTCCaGG
CTGAGGGCAGTTTGCTCCaGG
TTGGGGTTAGTTTGCTCCtGG
TTGAGGGGAGTCTGCTCCaGG
CTGGGGTGATTTTGCTCCtGG
TTTGGGGGAGTTTGCCCCaGG
TTCGGGGGAGTTTGCGCCgGG
CTCGGGGGAGTTTGCACCaGG
CTGTGAGTGTGTGCGTGaGG
ATGTGAGTGTGTGCGTGtGG
TACAGAGCAGAAGAAGAAtGG
TACGGAGCAGAAGAAGAAtGG
AACGGAGCAGAAGAAGAAaGG
CTGCGATCAGAAGAAGAAaGG
TTCCCTGCAGAAGAAGAAaGG
TTCCTACCAGAAGAAGAAtGG
CTCTGAGGAGAAGAAGAAaGG
ATCCAATCAGAAGAAGAAgGG
ATCCAACCAGAAGAAGAAaGG
CTCCTAGCAAAAGAAGAAtGG
TTCAGAGCAGGAGAAGAAtGG
C
AGTGAGTGTGTGCGTGtGG
tru-gRNAs were tested with the recently described dual Cas9 nickase approach to induce indel mutations. To do this, the Cas9-D10A nickase together with two full-length gRNAs targeted to sites in the human VEGFA gene (VEGFA site 1 and an additional sequence we refer to as VEGFA site 4) were co-expressed in U2OS.EGFP cells (
The dual nickase strategy has also been used to stimulate the introduction of specific sequence changes using ssODNs (Mali et al., 2013a; Ran et al., 2013) and so whether tru-gRNAs might be used for this type of alteration was also tested. Paired full-length gRNAs for VEGFA sites 1 and 4 together with Cas9-D10A nickase cooperatively enhanced efficient introduction of a short insertion from a ssODN donor (
Having established that use of a tru-gRNA does not diminish the on-target genome editing activities of paired nickases, we next used deep sequencing to examine mutation frequencies at four previously identified bona fide off-target sites of the VEGFA site 1 gRNA. This analysis revealed that mutation rates dropped to essentially undetectable levels at all four of these off-target sites when using paired nickases with a tru-gRNA (Table 4). By contrast, neither a tru-RGN (Table 3B) nor the paired nickases with full-length gRNAs (Table 4) was able to completely eliminate off-target mutations at one of these four off-target sites (OT1-3). These results demonstrate that the use of tru-gRNAs can further reduce the off-target effects of paired Cas9 nickases (and vice versa) without compromising the efficiency of on-target genome editing.
It is to be understood that while the invention has been described in conjunction with the detailed description thereof, the foregoing description is intended to illustrate and not limit the scope of the invention, which is defined by the scope of the appended claims. Other aspects, advantages, and modifications are within the scope of the following claims.
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/430,218, filed Feb. 10, 2017, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,415,059, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/213,723, filed on Mar. 14, 2014, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,567,604, which claims the benefit of U.S. Patent Application Ser. Nos. 61/799,647, filed on Mar. 15, 2013; 61/838,178, filed on Jun. 21, 2013; 61/838,148, filed on Jun. 21, 2013, and 61/921,007, filed on Dec. 26, 2013. The entire contents of the foregoing are hereby incorporated by reference.
This invention was made with Government support under Grant Nos. DP1 GM105378 awarded by the National Institutes of Health. The Government has certain rights in the invention.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20200071730 A1 | Mar 2020 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61921007 | Dec 2013 | US | |
| 61838148 | Jun 2013 | US | |
| 61838178 | Jun 2013 | US | |
| 61799647 | Mar 2013 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 15430218 | Feb 2017 | US |
| Child | 16572248 | US | |
| Parent | 14213723 | Mar 2014 | US |
| Child | 15430218 | US |
