Using the technology, Pal's lab has made many seminal contributions, including evidence for the existence of the nuclear - encoded plastid transcription system and identification of key elements involved in promoter recognition, translational initiation, and
RNA editing site specificity.
Not exact matches
Editing genes with CRISPR requires at least two components: a protein that cuts DNA and a piece of
RNA that guides it to the precise DNA
site to make the cut.
Using the model organism, Caenorhabditis elegans, the researchers identified over 400 new mRNA
editing sites — the majority regulated by ADR - 1 — and declared the protein the first global regulator of
RNA editing.
Our study reveals a family of endonucleases that use dual -
RNAs for
site - specific DNA cleavage and highlights the potential to exploit the system for
RNA - programmable genome
editing.
Each contained between 80,000 and 130,000
RNA sites that had been
edited.
Regions surrounding chloroplast
editing sites could be mutated in vitro and
RNA transcribed from mutated templates.
Wagoner, J.A., Sun, T., Lin, L., Hanson, M.R. (2015) Cytidine deaminase motifs within the DYW domain of two pentatricopeptide repeat - containing proteins are required for
site - specific chloroplast
RNA editing.
For
editing the genome, this system makes use of 3 components, a guide
RNA (gRNA) of about 125 nt that specifies the target, the Cas9 endonuclease that creates the DNA double - strand break (DSB) at the target
site, and a donor oligonucleotide or plasmid as the repair material if needed (for knock in models).
They successfully
edited 33/34
sites with a maximum of 28 %
editing efficiency in HEK293T cells, as assessed using
RNA - seq.
«By combining different methods for
RNA sequencing with new bioinformatics tools we could find novel
sites of nucleotide base exchange, so - called
editing», says Jens Lagergren, Professor at the Royal Institute of Technology and group leader at SciLifeLab Stockholm.
Cas9 is the endonuclease enzyme part of CRISPR / Cas9 system that cuts the DNA, while
RNA is the CRISPR guide, directing the enzyme to specific
sites in the genome so that precise genome
edits are possible.