Cited by 1,290CRISPR and Genetic EngineeringRNA Interference and Gene DeliveryRNA regulation and disease

CRISPRscan: designing highly efficient sgRNAs for CRISPR-Cas9 targeting in vivo

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Moreno-Mateos, Miguel A, Vejnar, Charles E, Beaudoin, Jean-Denis, Fernandez, Juan P, Mis, Emily K, Khokha, Mustafa K, Giraldez, Antonio J·2015·Nature Methods

Abstract

CRISPR-Cas9 technology provides a powerful system for genome engineering. However, variable activity across different single guide RNAs (sgRNAs) remains a significant limitation. We analyzed the molecular features that influence sgRNA stability, activity and loading into Cas9 in vivo. We observed that guanine enrichment and adenine depletion increased sgRNA stability and activity, whereas differential sgRNA loading, nucleosome positioning and Cas9 off-target binding were not major determinants. We also identified sgRNAs truncated by one or two nucleotides and containing 5' mismatches as efficient alternatives to canonical sgRNAs. On the basis of these results, we created a predictive sgRNA-scoring algorithm, CRISPRscan, that effectively captures the sequence features affecting the activity of CRISPR-Cas9 in vivo. Finally, we show that targeting Cas9 to the germ line using a Cas9-nanos 3' UTR led to the generation of maternal-zygotic mutants, as well as increased viability and decreased somatic mutations. These results identify determinants that influence Cas9 activity and provide a framework for the design of highly efficient sgRNAs for genome targeting in vivo.

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  • Most gRNA prediction tools rely on either traditional algorithms or deep learning and focus only on SpCas9-WT; few models are specific to variants.

    “Although some gRNA prediction tools have been developed, most of them rely on either traditional algorithms (Rule Set 1, CRISPRscan, etc.) or deep learning (DeepCRISPR, DeepCas9, etc.) and focus only on SpCas9-WT; few models are specific to variants (DeepSpCas9variants, DeepSmallCas9, GuideVar, DeepSniper, etc.).”
  • The pattern of SpCas9-NG is similar to SpCas9-WT.

    “The pattern of SpCas9-NG is similar to SpCas9-WT.”

    From Machine learning-based prediction models to guide the selection of Cas9 variants for efficient gene editing (2024) · cites this paper as [34]

    The Results section on sgRNA sequence describes nucleotide patterns associated with Cas9 activity, but does not compare SpCas9-NG with SpCas9-WT. Searches for those variants and their targeting patterns found no comparison in our copy; page numbers were not available. (LLM, conf=0.75)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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Authors
Moreno-Mateos, M. A., Vejnar, C. E., Beaudoin, J.-D., Fernandez, J. P., Mis, E. K., Khokha, M. K., & Giraldez, A. J.
Affiliations
Yale University (US)
Venue
Nature Methods
Published
2015-08-31
Volume
12
Issue
10
Pages
982-988
ISSN
  • 1548-7091 (ISSN-L)
  • 1548-7105
OpenAlex
W1915704240
Cited by
1,290
References
51
Citations by year
2026: 107 · 2025: 130 · 2024: 123 · 2023: 124 · 2022: 135 · 2021: 131 · 2020: 139 · 2019: 112 · 2018: 115 · 2017: 94 · 2016: 67 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 1
FWCI
41.56
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature Methods (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (148600)
  • National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R33HL120783)
  • National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R01GM081602, R01GM102251, R01GM103789, GM081602, R01GM101108)
  • Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R21HD073768, R01HD081379, R01HD074078)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › CRISPR and Genetic Engineering
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › RNA Interference and Gene Delivery
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › RNA regulation and disease
Keywords
CRISPR/Cas9, single guide RNA design, nucleosome positioning, somatic mutations
MeSH terms
RNA, Guide, CRISPR-Cas Systems, Adenine, Algorithms, Animals, Embryo, Nonmammalian, Female, Gene Expression Regulation, Genetic Engineering, Guanine, Mutation, Xenopus, Zebrafish, Genome, RNA, Guide, Kinetoplastida, Gene Targeting, 3' Untranslated Regions, Zebrafish Proteins, Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, CRISPR-Cas Systems

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