Project description:CRISPR-guided DNA base editors enable the efficient installation of targeted single-nucleotide changes. Cytosine or adenine base editors (CBEs or ABEs), which are fusions of cytidine or adenosine deaminases to CRISPR-Cas nickases, can efficiently induce DNA C-to-T or A-to-G alterations in DNA, respectively. We recently demonstrated that both the widely used CBE BE3 (harboring a rat APOBEC1 cytidine deaminase) and the optimized ABEmax editor can induce tens of thousands of guide RNA-independent, transcriptome-wide RNA base edits in human cells with high efficiencies. In addition, we showed the feasibility of creating SElective Curbing of Unwanted RNA Editing (SECURE)-BE3 variants that exhibit substantially reduced unwanted RNA editing activities while retaining robust and more precise on-target DNA editing. Here we describe structure-guided engineering of SECURE-ABE variants that not only possess reduced off-target RNA editing with comparable on-target DNA activities but are also the smallest Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9 (SpCas9) base editors described to date. In addition, we tested CBEs composed of cytidine deaminases other than APOBEC1 and found that human APOBEC3A (hA3A) cytidine deaminase CBE induces substantial transcriptome-wide RNA base edits with high efficiencies. By contrast, a previously described “enhanced” A3A (eA3A) cytidine deaminase CBE or a human activation-induced cytidine deaminase (hAID) CBE induce substantially reduced or near background levels of RNA edits. In sum, our work describes broadly useful SECURE-ABE and -CBE base editors and reinforces the importance of minimizing RNA editing activities of DNA base editors for research and therapeutic applications.
Project description:CRISPR-guided DNA base editors enable the efficient installation of targeted single-nucleotide changes. Cytosine or adenine base editors (CBEs or ABEs), which are fusions of cytidine or adenosine deaminases to CRISPR-Cas nickases, can efficiently induce DNA C-to-T or A-to-G alterations in DNA, respectively. We recently demonstrated that both the widely used CBE BE3 (harboring a rat APOBEC1 cytidine deaminase) and the optimized ABEmax editor can induce tens of thousands of guide RNA-independent, transcriptome-wide RNA base edits in human cells with high efficiencies. In addition, we showed the feasibility of creating SElective Curbing of Unwanted RNA Editing (SECURE)-BE3 variants that exhibit substantially reduced unwanted RNA editing activities while retaining robust and more precise on-target DNA editing. Here we describe structure-guided engineering of SECURE-ABE variants that not only possess reduced off-target RNA editing with comparable on-target DNA activities but are also the smallest Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9 (SpCas9) base editors described to date. In addition, we tested CBEs composed of cytidine deaminases other than APOBEC1 and found that human APOBEC3A (hA3A) cytidine deaminase CBE induces substantial transcriptome-wide RNA base edits with high efficiencies. By contrast, a previously described “enhanced” A3A (eA3A) cytidine deaminase CBE or a human activation-induced cytidine deaminase (hAID) CBE induce substantially reduced or near background levels of RNA edits. In sum, our work describes broadly useful SECURE-ABE and -CBE base editors and reinforces the importance of minimizing RNA editing activities of DNA base editors for research and therapeutic applications.
Project description:CRISPR-Cas base editor technology enables targeted nucleotide alterations and is being rapidly deployed for research and potential therapeutic applications. The most widely used base editors induce DNA cytosine (C) deamination with rat APOBEC1 (rAPOBEC1) enzyme, which is targeted by a linked Cas protein-guide RNA (gRNA) complex. Previous studies of cytosine base editor (CBE) specificity have identified off-target DNA edits in human cells. Here we show that a CBE with rAPOBEC1 can cause extensive transcriptome-wide RNA cytosine deamination in human cells, inducing tens of thousands of C-to-uracil (U) edits with frequencies ranging from 0.07% to 100% in 38% - 58% of expressed genes. CBE-induced RNA edits occur in both protein-coding and non-protein-coding sequences and generate missense, nonsense, splice site, 5’ UTR, and 3’ UTR mutations. We engineered two CBE variants bearing rAPOBEC1 mutations that substantially decrease the numbers of RNA edits (reductions of >390-fold and >3,800-fold) in human cells. These variants also showed more precise on-target DNA editing and, with the majority of gRNAs tested, editing efficiencies comparable to those observed with wild-type CBE. Finally, we show that recently described adenine base editors (ABEs) can also induce transcriptome-wide RNA edits. These results have important implications for the research and therapeutic uses of base editors, illustrate the feasibility of engineering improved variants with reduced RNA editing activities, and suggest the need to more fully define and characterize the RNA off-target effects of deaminase enzymes in base editor platforms.
Project description:CRISPR-Cas base editor technology enables targeted nucleotide alterations and is being rapidly deployed for research and potential therapeutic applications. The most widely used base editors induce DNA cytosine (C) deamination with rat APOBEC1 (rAPOBEC1) enzyme, which is targeted by a linked Cas protein-guide RNA (gRNA) complex. Previous studies of cytosine base editor (CBE) specificity have identified off-target DNA edits in human cells. Here we show that a CBE with rAPOBEC1 can cause extensive transcriptome-wide RNA cytosine deamination in human cells, inducing tens of thousands of C-to-uracil (U) edits with frequencies ranging from 0.07% to 100% in 38% - 58% of expressed genes. CBE-induced RNA edits occur in both protein-coding and non-protein-coding sequences and generate missense, nonsense, splice site, 5’ UTR, and 3’ UTR mutations. We engineered two CBE variants bearing rAPOBEC1 mutations that substantially decrease the numbers of RNA edits (reductions of >390-fold and >3,800-fold) in human cells. These variants also showed more precise on-target DNA editing and, with the majority of gRNAs tested, editing efficiencies comparable to those observed with wild-type CBE. Finally, we show that recently described adenine base editors (ABEs) can also induce transcriptome-wide RNA edits. These results have important implications for the research and therapeutic uses of base editors, illustrate the feasibility of engineering improved variants with reduced RNA editing activities, and suggest the need to more fully define and characterize the RNA off-target effects of deaminase enzymes in base editor platforms. This SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.
Project description:We design and apply a highly optimized library of double-stranded DNA deaminase (DddA)-derived cytosine base editors (DdCBEs) - MitoKO - to precisely ablate every mtDNA protein coding gene in the mouse mitochondrial genome
Project description:Base Editing has been touted the most intelligent and precise application of the CRISPR platform so far, merging the simplicity of RNA-guided nucleases with deaminases that allow for the programmable generation of single base substitutions - without introduction of double-strand breaks. Even though the two-component system has been expected to cause off-target substitutions, studies involving cytosine base editors (CBEs) showed that in most cases, relatively few single base off-targets could be detected on DNA. We introduce the concept of multi-dimensional off-targeting, presenting an extensive amount of RNA cytidines being edited by DNA base editors. Epitranscriptomic off-target effects affected different cell lines and were independent of the guide RNAs used, suggesting Cas9-independent activity of the cytidine deaminase rAPOBEC1 on single-stranded RNA. With the help of protein engineering, we developed CBE variants with massively reduced inadvertent mutation of RNA that preserve and enhance DNA base editing capabilities.
Project description:Base Editing has been touted the most intelligent and precise application of the CRISPR platform so far, merging the simplicity of RNA-guided nucleases with deaminases that allow for the programmable generation of single base substitutions - without introduction of double-strand breaks. Even though the two-component system has been expected to cause off-target substitutions, studies involving cytosine base editors (CBEs) showed that in most cases, relatively few single base off-targets could be detected on DNA. We introduce the concept of multi-dimensional off-targeting, presenting an extensive amount of RNA cytidines being edited by DNA base editors. Epitranscriptomic off-target effects affected different cell lines and were independent of the guide RNAs used, suggesting Cas9-independent activity of the cytidine deaminase rAPOBEC1 on single-stranded RNA. With the help of protein engineering, we developed CBE variants with massively reduced inadvertent mutation of RNA that preserve and enhance DNA base editing capabilities.
Project description:Base Editing has been touted the most intelligent and precise application of the CRISPR platform so far, merging the simplicity of RNA-guided nucleases with deaminases that allow for the programmable generation of single base substitutions - without introduction of double-strand breaks. Even though the two-component system has been expected to cause off-target substitutions, studies involving cytosine base editors (CBEs) showed that in most cases, relatively few single base off-targets could be detected on DNA. We introduce the concept of multi-dimensional off-targeting, presenting an extensive amount of RNA cytidines being edited by DNA base editors. Epitranscriptomic off-target effects affected different cell lines and were independent of the guide RNAs used, suggesting Cas9-independent activity of the cytidine deaminase rAPOBEC1 on single-stranded RNA. With the help of protein engineering, we developed CBE variants with massively reduced inadvertent mutation of RNA that preserve and enhance DNA base editing capabilities.
Project description:Base Editing has been touted the most intelligent and precise application of the CRISPR platform so far, merging the simplicity of RNA-guided nucleases with deaminases that allow for the programmable generation of single base substitutions - without introduction of double-strand breaks. Even though the two-component system has been expected to cause off-target substitutions, studies involving cytosine base editors (CBEs) showed that in most cases, relatively few single base off-targets could be detected on DNA. We introduce the concept of multi-dimensional off-targeting, presenting an extensive amount of RNA cytidines being edited by DNA base editors. Epitranscriptomic off-target effects affected different cell lines and were independent of the guide RNAs used, suggesting Cas9-independent activity of the cytidine deaminase rAPOBEC1 on single-stranded RNA. With the help of protein engineering, we developed CBE variants with massively reduced inadvertent mutation of RNA that preserve and enhance DNA base editing capabilities.