Crispr/Cas9-mediated cleavages facilitate homologous recombination
during genetic engineering of a large chromosomal region
Abstract
Homologous recombination over large genomic regions is difficult to
achieve due to low efficiencies. Here, we report the successful
engineering of a humanized mTert allele, hmTert, in the mouse genome by
replacing an 18.1-kb genomic region around the mTert gene with a
recombinant fragment of over 45.5-kb, using homologous recombination
facilitated by the Crispr/Cas9 technology, in mouse embryonic stem cells
(mESCs). In our experiments, with specific sites of DNA double strand
breaks (DSBs) by Crispr/Cas9 system, the homologous recombination
efficiency was up to 11% and 16% in two mESC lines TC1 and v6.5,
respectively. Overall, we obtained a total of 27 mESC clones with
heterozygous hmTert/mTert alleles and 3 clones with homozygous hmTert
alleles. DSBs induced by Crispr/Cas9 cleavages also caused high rates of
genomic DNA deletions and mutations at small guide RNA (sgRNA) target
sites. Our results indicated the Crispr/Cas9 system significantly
increased the efficiency of homologous recombination-mediated gene
editing over a large genomic region in mammal cells, but also inherently
caused mutations at unedited target sites. Overall, this strategy
provides an efficient and feasible way for manipulating large
chromosomal regions.