New scissors for genetic engineering
Scientists have discovered a new way to edit the human genome
Evgeny Anokhin, N+1A group of scientists from the USA and the Netherlands has discovered a new CRISPR-Cpf1 protein capable of editing the genome of human cells.
The researchers isolated it from the bacteria Acidaminococcus and Lachnospiraceae. The work was published in the journal Cell (Zetsche et al., Cpf1 Is a Single RNA-Guided Endonuclease of a Class 2 CRISPR-Cas System).Cpf1 works like CRISPR-Cas9, which is currently used in experiments to change the human genome, but it has a number of advantages.
Firstly, to cut the Cpf1 DNA, only one RNA molecule needs to be attached (unlike Cas9, which requires two). Cpf1 is also smaller than Cas9, which facilitates its delivery to cells.
Secondly, the new protein cuts DNA in a slightly different way than Cas9. The Cas9 complex cuts both strands of DNA in one place, leaving "blunt ends" that are often mutated, while the Cpf1 protein makes an offset cut. The researchers expect that this will allow for more efficient and accurate integration of part of the DNA.
Thirdly, Cpf1 cuts away from the recognition site, allowing the gene to be re-edited in the event of a mutation from the incision side.
Finally, Cpf1 is attached to a slightly different PAM sequence than Cas9, which provides greater flexibility in choosing targets for editing.
According to the authors, the unusual properties of Cpf1 and more precise editing open up new applications for the technology. As in the case of Cas9, the authors plan to share the Cpf1 system with various groups of scientists around the world (researchers have given more than 23 thousand Cas9 samples to various laboratories in order to accelerate genome editing research).
CRISPR sequences were first discovered in 1987, their biological function was described in 2010-2011, and the use of the CRISPR-Cas9 system for editing the mammalian genome was first described independently in 2013 by George Church and Feng Zhang, the latter of whom is one of the authors of this work.
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28.09.2015