No unexpected CRISPR-Cas9 off-target activity revealed by trio sequencing of gene-edited mice.

CRISPR-Cas9 technologies have transformed genome-editing of experimental organisms and have immense therapeutic potential. Despite significant advances in our understanding of the CRISPR-Cas9 system, concerns remain over the potential for off-target effects. Recent studies have addressed these conce...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Vivek Iyer, Katharina Boroviak, Mark Thomas, Brendan Doe, Laura Riva, Edward Ryder, David J Adams
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2018-07-01
Series:PLoS Genetics
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1007503&type=printable
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Summary:CRISPR-Cas9 technologies have transformed genome-editing of experimental organisms and have immense therapeutic potential. Despite significant advances in our understanding of the CRISPR-Cas9 system, concerns remain over the potential for off-target effects. Recent studies have addressed these concerns using whole-genome sequencing (WGS) of gene-edited embryos or animals to search for de novo mutations (DNMs), which may represent candidate changes introduced by poor editing fidelity. Critically, these studies used strain-matched, but not pedigree-matched controls and thus were unable to reliably distinguish generational or colony-related differences from true DNMs. Here we used a trio design and whole genome sequenced 8 parents and 19 embryos, where 10 of the embryos were mutagenised with well-characterised gRNAs targeting the coat colour Tyrosinase (Tyr) locus. Detailed analyses of these whole genome data allowed us to conclude that if CRISPR mutagenesis were causing SNV or indel off-target mutations in treated embryos, then the number of these mutations is not statistically distinguishable from the background rate of DNMs occurring due to other processes.
ISSN:1553-7390
1553-7404