RNA-guided engineered nucleases (RGENs) derived from the prokaryotic adaptive immune system known as CRISPR (clustered, regularly interspaced, short palindromic repeat)/Cas (CRISPR-associated) enable genome editing in human cell lines, animals, and plants, but are limited by off-target effects and unwanted integration of DNA segments derived from plasmids encoding Cas9 and guide RNA at both on-target and off-target sites in the genome. Here, we deliver purified recombinant Cas9 protein and guide RNA into cultured human cells including hard-to-transfect fibroblasts and pluripotent stem cells. RGEN ribonucleoproteins (RNPs) induce site-specific mutations at frequencies of up to 79%, while reducing off-target mutations associated with plasmid transfection at off-target sites that differ by one or two nucleotides from on-target sites. RGEN RNPs cleave chromosomal DNA almost immediately after delivery and are degraded rapidly in cells, reducing off-target effects. Furthermore, RNP delivery is less stressful to human embryonic stem cells, producing at least twofold more colonies than does plasmid transfection.

Although RNA-guided genome editing via the CRISPR-Cas9 system is now widely used in biomedical research, genome-wide target specificities of Cas9 nucleases remain controversial. Here we present Digenome-seq, in vitro Cas9-digested whole-genome sequencing, to profile genome-wide Cas9 off-target effects in human cells. This in vitro digest yields sequence reads with the same 5' ends at cleavage sites that can be computationally identified. We validated off-target sites at which insertions or deletions were induced with frequencies below 0.1%, near the detection limit of targeted deep sequencing. We also showed that Cas9 nucleases can be highly specific, inducing off-target mutations at merely several, rather than thousands of, sites in the entire genome and that Cas9 off-target effects can be avoided by replacing 'promiscuous' single guide RNAs (sgRNAs) with modified sgRNAs. Digenome-seq is a robust, sensitive, unbiased and cost-effective method for profiling genome-wide off-target effects of programmable nucleases including Cas9.

Programmable clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) Cpf1 endonucleases are single-RNA-guided (crRNA) enzymes that recognize thymidine-rich protospacer-adjacent motif (PAM) sequences and produce cohesive double-stranded breaks (DSBs). Genome editing with CRISPR-Cpf1 endonucleases could provide an alternative to CRISPR-Cas9 endonucleases, but the determinants of targeting specificity are not well understood. Using mismatched crRNAs we found that Cpf1 could tolerate single or double mismatches in the 3' PAM-distal region, but not in the 5' PAM-proximal region. Genome-wide analysis of cleavage sites in vitro for eight Cpf1 nucleases using Digenome-seq revealed that there were 6 (LbCpf1) and 12 (AsCpf1) cleavage sites per crRNA in the human genome, fewer than are present for Cas9 nucleases (>90). Most Cpf1 off-target cleavage sites did not produce mutations in cells. We found mismatches in either the 3' PAM-distal region or in the PAM sequence of 12 off-target sites that were validated in vivo. Off-target effects were completely abrogated by using preassembled, recombinant Cpf1 ribonucleoproteins.