Bacteria and archaea have evolved adaptive immune defenses, termed clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated (Cas) systems, that use short RNA to direct degradation of foreign nucleic acids. Here, we engineer the type II bacterial CRISPR system to function with custom guide RNA (gRNA) in human cells. For the endogenous AAVS1 locus, we obtained targeting rates of 10 to 25% in 293T cells, 13 to 8% in K562 cells, and 2 to 4% in induced pluripotent stem cells. We show that this process relies on CRISPR components; is sequence-specific; and, upon simultaneous introduction of multiple gRNAs, can effect multiplex editing of target loci. We also compute a genome-wide resource of ~190 K unique gRNAs targeting ~40.5% of human exons. Our results establish an RNA-guided editing tool for facile, robust, and multiplexable human genome engineering.

Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) and CRISPR-associated (Cas) systems in bacteria and archaea use RNA-guided nuclease activity to provide adaptive immunity against invading foreign nucleic acids. Here, we report the use of type II bacterial CRISPR-Cas system in Saccharomyces cerevisiae for genome engineering. The CRISPR-Cas components, Cas9 gene and a designer genome targeting CRISPR guide RNA (gRNA), show robust and specific RNA-guided endonuclease activity at targeted endogenous genomic loci in yeast. Using constitutive Cas9 expression and a transient gRNA cassette, we show that targeted double-strand breaks can increase homologous recombination rates of single- and double-stranded oligonucleotide donors by 5-fold and 130-fold, respectively. In addition, co-transformation of a gRNA plasmid and a donor DNA in cells constitutively expressing Cas9 resulted in near 100% donor DNA recombination frequency. Our approach provides foundations for a simple and powerful genome engineering tool for site-specific mutagenesis and allelic replacement in yeast.

We describe complete design of a synthetic eukaryotic genome, Sc2.0, a highly modified Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome reduced in size by nearly 8%, with 1.1 megabases of the synthetic genome deleted, inserted, or altered. Sc2.0 chromosome design was implemented with BioStudio, an open-source framework developed for eukaryotic genome design, which coordinates design modifications from nucleotide to genome scales and enforces version control to systematically track edits. To achieve complete Sc2.0 genome synthesis, individual synthetic chromosomes built by Sc2.0 Consortium teams around the world will be consolidated into a single strain by "endoreduplication intercross. " Chemically synthesized genomes like Sc2.0 are fully customizable and allow experimentalists to ask otherwise intractable questions about chromosome structure, function, and evolution with a bottom-up design strategy.

Rapid advances in DNA synthesis techniques have made it possible to engineer viruses, biochemical pathways and assemble bacterial genomes. Here, we report the synthesis of a functional 272,871 bp designer eukaryotic chromosome, synIII, which is based on the 316,617 bp native Saccharomyces cerevisiae chromosome III. Changes to synIII include TAG/TAA stop-codon replacements, deletion of subtelomeric regions, introns, tRNAs, transposons and silent mating loci as well as insertion of loxPsym sites to enable genome scrambling. SynIII is functional in S. cerevisiae. Scrambling of the chromosome in a heterozygous diploid reveals a large increase in “a mater” derivatives resulting from loss of the MATα allele on synIII. The total synthesis of synIII represents the first complete design and synthesis of a eukaryotic chromosome, establishing S. cerevisiae as the basis for designer eukaryotic genome biology.

RNA-guided gene drives capable of spreading genomic alterations made in laboratory organisms through wild populations in an inheritable way could be used to control populations of organisms that cause environmental and public health problems. However, the possibility of unintended genome editing through the escape of strains from laboratories, coupled with the prospect of unanticipated ecological change, demands caution. We report the efficacy of CRISPR-Cas9 gene drive systems in wild and laboratory strains of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Furthermore, we address concerns surrounding accidental genome editing by developing and validating methods of molecular confinement that minimize the risk of unwanted genome editing. We also present a drive system capable of overwriting the changes introduced by an earlier gene drive. These molecular safeguards should enable the development of safe CRISPR gene drives for diverse organisms.Synthetic gene drive systems have the potential to address diverse ecological problems by altering the traits of wild populations. These genetic elements spread not by improving the reproductive fitness of the organism, but by increasing the odds that they themselves will be inherited. Because this inheritance advantage can overcome the fitness costs associated with the drive itself or adjacent genes carried with the drive, such genetic elements are theoretically capable of 'driving' unrelated traits through populations over many generations 1 .Users may view, print, copy, and download text and data-mine the content in such documents, for the purposes of academic research, subject always to the HHS Public Access Author Manuscript Author ManuscriptAuthor Manuscript Author ManuscriptInheritance-biasing is a common strategy in nature 2 . One elegant class of inheritance-biasing genes spreads by cutting homologous chromosomes that do not contain them, thereby inducing the cellular repair process to copy them onto the damaged chromosome by homologous recombination (Fig. 1A). This process is known as 'homing' 3 . The bestcharacterised homing endonuclease gene is I-SceI, whose product cuts the gene encoding the large rRNA subunit of S. cerevisiae mitochondria. Most homing endonucleases are extremely efficient, for example, I-SceI is correctly copied 99% of the time 4 .Austin Burt suggested in 2003 that homing endonucleases might form the basis of synthetic gene drives that could alter wild populations of sexually reproducing organisms (Fig. 1B) 5 .The I-SceI endonuclease gene was subsequently demonstrated to exhibit homing in transgenic laboratory populations of mosquitoes 6 and fruit flies 7 , 8 in which an I-SceI recognition site was inserted into the recipient strain at the same locus as the I-SceI gene in the donor strain.. However, the difficulty of retargeting homing endonucleases to cleave specific sequences in wild-type genomes has limited their utility for synthetic gene drive elements 9 .CRISPR-Cas9 which cleaves target sequences specified by single 'guide RNA' (sgRNA) mo...

Candida albicans is the leading cause of fungal infections; yet, complex genetic interaction analysis remains cumbersome in this diploid pathogen. Here, we developed a CRISPR-Cas9-based ‘gene drive array’ (GDA) platform to facilitate efficient genetic analysis in C. albicans. In our system, a modified DNA donor molecule acts as a selfish genetic element, replaces the targeted site, and propagates to replace additional wild-type loci. Using mating-competent C. albicans haploids, each carrying a different gene drive disabling a gene of interest, we are able to create diploid strains that are homozygous double-deletion mutants. We generate double-gene deletion libraries to demonstrate this technology, targeting antifungal efflux and biofilm adhesion factors. We screen these libraries to identify virulence regulators and determine how genetic networks shift under diverse conditions. This platform transforms our ability to perform genetic interaction analysis in C. albicans and is readily extended to other fungal pathogens.

High-frequency oligonucleotide-directed recombination engineering (recombineering) has enabled rapid modification of several prokaryotic genomes to date. Here, we present a method for oligonucleotide-mediated recombineering in the model eukaryote and industrial production host S. cerevisiae, which we call Yeast Oligo-mediated Genome Engineering (YOGE). Through a combination of overexpression and knockouts of relevant genes and optimization of transformation and oligonucleotide designs, we achieve high gene modification frequencies at levels that only require screening of dozens of cells. We demonstrate the robustness of our approach in three divergent yeast strains, including those involved in industrial production of bio-based chemicals. Furthermore, YOGE can be iteratively executed via cycling to generate genomic libraries up to 105 individuals at each round for diversity generation. YOGE cycling alone, or in combination with phenotypic selections or endonuclease-based negative genotypic selections, can be used to easily generate modified alleles in yeast populations with high frequencies.

Precision medicine seeks to treat disease with molecular specificity. Advances in genome sequence analysis, gene delivery, and genome surgery have allowed clinician-scientists to treat genetic conditions at the level of their pathology. As a result, progress in treating retinal disease using genetic tools has advanced tremendously over the past several decades. Breakthroughs in gene delivery vectors, both viral and nonviral, have allowed the delivery of genetic payloads in preclinical models of retinal disorders and have paved the way for numerous successful clinical trials. Moreover, the adaptation of CRISPR-Cas systems for genome engineering have enabled the correction of both recessive and dominant pathogenic alleles, expanding the disease-modifying power of gene therapies. Here, we highlight the translational progress of gene therapy and genome editing of several retinal disorders, including RPE65-, CEP290-, and GUY2D-associated Leber congenital amaurosis, as well as choroideremia, achromatopsia, Mer tyrosine kinase- (MERTK-) and RPGR X-linked retinitis pigmentosa, Usher syndrome, neovascular age-related macular degeneration, X-linked retinoschisis, Stargardt disease, and Leber hereditary optic neuropathy.