High-fidelity CRISPR-Cas9 nucleases with no detectable genome-wide off-target effects
- PMID: 26735016
- PMCID: PMC4851738
- DOI: 10.1038/nature16526
High-fidelity CRISPR-Cas9 nucleases with no detectable genome-wide off-target effects
Abstract
CRISPR-Cas9 nucleases are widely used for genome editing but can induce unwanted off-target mutations. Existing strategies for reducing genome-wide off-target effects of the widely used Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9 (SpCas9) are imperfect, possessing only partial or unproven efficacies and other limitations that constrain their use. Here we describe SpCas9-HF1, a high-fidelity variant harbouring alterations designed to reduce non-specific DNA contacts. SpCas9-HF1 retains on-target activities comparable to wild-type SpCas9 with >85% of single-guide RNAs (sgRNAs) tested in human cells. Notably, with sgRNAs targeted to standard non-repetitive sequences, SpCas9-HF1 rendered all or nearly all off-target events undetectable by genome-wide break capture and targeted sequencing methods. Even for atypical, repetitive target sites, the vast majority of off-target mutations induced by wild-type SpCas9 were not detected with SpCas9-HF1. With its exceptional precision, SpCas9-HF1 provides an alternative to wild-type SpCas9 for research and therapeutic applications. More broadly, our results suggest a general strategy for optimizing genome-wide specificities of other CRISPR-RNA-guided nucleases.
Conflict of interest statement
J.K.J. is a consultant for Horizon Discovery. J.K.J. has financial interests in Editas Medicine, Hera Testing Laboratories, Poseida Therapeutics, and Transposagen Biopharmaceuticals. J.K.J.’s interests were reviewed and are managed by Massachusetts General Hospital and Partners HealthCare in accordance with their conflict of interest policies. A patent application has been filed for high-fidelity Cas9 variants.
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Genome editing: The domestication of Cas9.Nature. 2016 Jan 28;529(7587):468-9. doi: 10.1038/529468a. Nature. 2016. PMID: 26819037 No abstract available.
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