CRISPR 101: Any Base Transversion Editors

By Emily P. Bentley

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The nucleobases are shown with arrows describing conversions between them. In step one, a cytosine deaminase converts cytosine to uracil; this is catalyzed directly by the base editor. Next, base excision of uracil (also by the base editor) is repaired in two different ways by the cell, shown by an arrow that splits into two outcomes. Repair in E. coli leads to adenine, while repair in mammalian cells leads to guanine.
A schematic overview of the CRISPR classification system.
A cartoon depiction of cytidine base editing. A base editor, consisting of a cytidine deaminase fused to Cas9, is shown binding to DNA using its guide RNA. The guide RNA base pairs to target DNA, leaving the opposite strand of DNA free to be contacted by the cytidine deaminase, which converts a C to a U within this single-stranded sequence. This deamination yields DNA with a G:U mismatch without creating a double-strand break. Mismatch repair preserves the edit IF the modified strand is used as the template, converting the mismatched G to an A and yielding a single-base-pair edit.
A cartoon overlayed on several crystal structures showing the parts of the prime editor: the Cas9 nickase domain, the reverse transcriptase domain, and the pegRNA.
Alt text: A schematic illustration of the CRISPR/Cas9-based approaches mentioned above. The first illustration (A) shows a DSB made at a transcription start site upstream of an exon. The second illustration (B) shows a DSB made at splice sites. The third illustration (C) shows a DSB made upstream and downstream of an exon to fully remove a genomic fragment. The fourth illustration (D) shows a DSB made within an exon to insert a synthetic polyadenylation signal. 
Overview of the parts of CRISPR. The bacterial chromosome encodes a tracrRNA (in some systems including Cas9), Cas proteins, and a CRISPR array. The CRISPR array is composed of identical repeat sequences and variable spacer sequences. The array is transcribed and processed into crRNAs, each including one repeat and one spacer. In bacteria, these crRNAs are bound by Cas proteins (Cas9 shown here). The repeat sequence base pairs with the tracrRNA, and the spacer sequence is used to target complementary DNA sequences. In laboratory settings, an sgRNA includes the crRNA and tracrRNA sequences in a “single-guide RNA” that performs both functions. Cas9 cuts both the target and nontarget DNA strands upstream of the PAM site found in the nontarget strand.
Cartoon summary of Cas9 activity.

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