What's New in CRISPR - Winter 2018

By Jennifer Tsang

New-in-CRISPR-Addgene-BlogIn this quarterly blog series, we’ll highlight a few of the new CRISPR plasmids available at Addgene. We will still periodically focus on specific CRISPR plasmid tools more in-depth, but we hope that this blog series will help you find new CRISPR tools for your research.

 

 


Improved nucleic acid sequence detection

Feng Zhang’s lab recently developed a platform called SHERLOCK (specific high-sensitivity enzymatic reporter unlocking) to detect single molecules of RNA or DNA. Now they have developed this further to provide multiplexed detection, higher sensitivity, and more.

More precision with dual-nuclease Cas9-Cas9 chimeras

Scot Wolfe’s lab has developed dual-nuclease Cas9-Cas9 chimeras with higher target site activity and more predictable and precise deletion products compared to monomeric Cas9’s.

A modular toolkit for genome editing in plants

While there have been many Cas nucleases developed for plants, it has been difficult to compare the performance of different nucleases. Nicola Patron’s lab compared the efficiency and specificity of multiple wild-type and engineered variants of Cas nucleases. In doing so, they also created a modular toolkit for Cas-mediated genome engineering in plants.

New Cas protein identified

Jennifer Doudna’s lab recently identified Cas14, a family of small DNA-targeting Cas proteins. Cas14 targets and cleaves ssDNA which they have adapted for detecting SNPs.

Anti-CRISPR proteins for optogenetic control of CRISPR-Cas9

Anti-CRISPR proteins that inhibit type II CRISPR systems were recently discovered in 2017. Now Dominik Niopek’s lab has adapted anti-CRISPR proteins for optogenetic control of CRISPR-Cas9. By combining AcrIIA4, a Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9 inhibitor, with the LOV2 photosensor from Avena sativa, light-mediated genome editing is now possible.

Tagging human transcription factors with GFP

Kevin White’s lab recently deposited a set of CRISPR plasmids to tag human transcription factors with GFP. As part of the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE), a consortium aimed to identify functional elements in the human genome, these donor plasmids will help researchers map transcription factor localization and binding via ChiP-seq.

If you have a new CRISPR tool you’ve recently deposited to Addgene and you’d like it to be included in the next What’s New in CRISPR blog post, please let us know!

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Additional resources on the Addgene blog

Resources on Addgene.org

Topics: CRISPR, Other CRISPR Tools

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