Biotechnology Bulletin ›› 2023, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (10): 68-79.doi: 10.13560/j.cnki.biotech.bull.1985.2023-0248

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Construction of a New Mini Genome Editing System Based on Csy4 and MCP

DENG Jia-hui1(), LEI Jian-feng2, ZHAO Yi1, LIU Min1, HU Zi-yao1, YOU Yang-zi1, SHAO Wu-kui1, LIU Jian-fei1, LIU Xiao-dong1()   

  1. 1. College of Life Sciences, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi 830052
    2. College of Agronomy, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Research Center of Cotton Engineering, Ministry of Education, Laboratory of Agricultural Biotechnology, Urumqi 830052
  • Received:2023-03-21 Online:2023-10-26 Published:2023-11-28
  • Contact: LIU Xiao-dong E-mail:15754842489@126.com;xiaodongliu75@aliyun.com

Abstract:

MCP is the coat protein of MS2 phage, and Csy4 is a small protein involved in crRNA generation of CRISPR 1-F system, which can recognize and bind RNA with high specificity. CRISPR/Cas and other genome editing technologies have some problems, such as large molecular weight of targeted nuclease, high off-target rate, and limited by PAM site. To solve these problems and construct new mini genome editing system based on Csy4 and MCP, AlphaFold2 was used to predict the structures of MCP-FokI, FokI-MCP, Csy4-FokI and FokI-Csy4 fusion proteins. The MCP-FokI and FokI-MCP editing vectors were transformed into Arabidopsis thaliana by the flower dip method, respectively, and the CLCrV-mediated Csy4-FokI and FokI-Csy4 editing systems were delivered using A. thaliana leaf injection. The A. thaliana genomic DNA was extracted and the editing ability of the novel mini-genome editing system was tested by HI-TOM high-throughput sequencing. The results showed that each domain of MCP, FokI and Csy4 maintained their original three-dimensional structures in the fusion proteins, suggesting that they all functioned properly. The plant expression vectors of MCP-FokI and MCP-FokI binding dual target sites with four different intermediate spacer regions were constructed to target the AtCLA1 genes. Sequencing results demonstrated that neither MCP-FokI nor FokI-MCP achieved the targeted editing of the target genes. Seven CLCrV-mediated Csy4-FokI and FokI-Csy4 editing vectors with different intermediate spacer regions were constructed to target the AtCLA1 genes. Among them the CLCrV-mediated Csy4-FokI editing system was able to achieve targeted editing of the target gene, but the mutation types were all base substitution types and the editing efficiency was low. No genome editing was detected in the FokI-Csy4 system. Taken together, a novel Csy4-FokI mini-genome editing system was successfully constructed, which may provide an innovative solution to overcome the problems of CRISPR/Cas genome editing technology.

Key words: Csy4, MCP, cotton leaf crumple virus, VIGE