Type V CRISPR–Cas12a systems provide an alternate nuclease platform to Cas9, with potential advantages for specific genome editing applications. Here we describe improvements to the Cas12a system that facilitate efficient targeted mutagenesis in mammalian cells and zebrafish embryos. We show that engineered variants of Cas12a with two different nuclear localization sequences (NLS) on the C terminus provide increased editing efficiency in mammalian cells. Additionally, we find that pre-crRNAs comprising a full-length direct repeat (full-DR-crRNA) sequence with specific stem-loop G-C base substitutions exhibit increased editing efficiencies compared with the standard mature crRNA framework. Finally, we demonstrate in zebrafish embryos that the improved LbCas12a and FnoCas12a nucleases in combination with these modified crRNAs display high mutagenesis efficiencies and low toxicity when delivered as ribonucleoprotein complexes at high concentration. Together, these results define a set of enhanced Cas12a components with broad utility in vertebrate systems.

HOXA cluster antisense RNA 2 (HOXA-AS2) is a long non-coding RNA located between the HOXA3 and HOXA4 genes in the HOXA cluster. Its transcript is expressed in NB4 promyelocytic leukemia cells and human peripheral blood neutrophils, and expression is increased in NB4 cells treated with all trans retinoic acid (ATRA). Knockdown of HOXA-AS2 expression by transduced shRNA decreases the number of viable cells and increases the proportion of apoptotic cells, measured by annexin V binding and by activity and cleavage of caspases-3, -8, and -9. The increase in death of HOXA-AS2 knockdown cells was accompanied by an elevated TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) levels, but ATRA-induced NB4 cells treated with TRAIL did show an increase in HOXA-AS2 expression. These results demonstrate that ATRA induction of HOXA-AS2 suppresses ATRA-induced apoptosis, possibly through a TRAIL-mediated pathway. HOXA-AS2-mediated negative regulation thus contributes to the fine-tuning of apoptosis during ATRA-induced myeloid differentiation in NB4 cells.

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Toll-like receptors (TLRs) sense microbial products and play an important role in innate immunity. Currently, 11 members of TLRs have been identified in humans, with important function in host defense in early steps of the inflammatory response. TLRs are present in the plasma membrane (TLR1, TLR2, TLR4, TLR5, TLR6) and endosome (TLR3, TLR7, TLR8, TLR9) of leukocytes. TLRs and IL-1R are a family of receptors related to the innate immune response that contain an intracellular domain known as the Toll-IL-1R (TIR) domain that recruits the TIR-containing cytosolic adapters MyD88, TRIF, TIRAP and TRAM. The classical pathway results in the activation of both nuclear factor κB and MAPKs via the IRAK complex, with two active kinases (IRAK-1 and IRAK-4) and two non-catalytic subunits (IRAK-2 and IRAK-3/M). The classical pro-inflammatory TLR signaling pathway leads to the synthesis of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, such as IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-12 and TNF-α. In humans, genetic defects have been identified that impair signaling of the TLR pathway and this may result in recurrent pyogenic infections, as well as virus and fungi infections. In this review, we discuss the main mechanisms of microbial recognition and the defects involving TLRs.