GSNOR deficiency promotes tumor growth via FAK1 S-nitrosylation.

Nitric oxide (NO) production in the tumor microenvironment is a common element in cancer. S-nitrosylation, the post-translational modification of cysteines by NO, is emerging as a key transduction mechanism sustaining tumorigenesis. However, most oncoproteins that are regulated by S-nitrosylation are still unknown. Here we show that S-nitrosoglutathione reductase (GSNOR), the enzyme that deactivates S-nitrosylation, is hypo-expressed in several human malignancies. Using multiple tumor models, we demonstrate that GSNOR deficiency induces S-nitrosylation of focal adhesion kinase 1 (FAK1) at C658. This event enhances FAK1 autophosphorylation and sustains tumorigenicity by providing cancer cells with the ability to survive in suspension (evade anoikis). In line with these results, GSNOR-deficient tumor models are highly susceptible to treatment with FAK1 inhibitors. Altogether, our findings advance our understanding of the oncogenic role of S-nitrosylation, define GSNOR as a tumor suppressor, and point to GSNOR hypo-expression as a therapeutically exploitable vulnerability in cancer.

Haplotyping by CRISPR-mediated DNA circularization (CRISPR-hapC) broadens allele-specific gene editing.

Allele-specific protospacer adjacent motif (asPAM)-positioning SNPs and CRISPRs are valuable resources for gene therapy of dominant disorders. However, one technical hurdle is to identify the haplotype comprising the disease-causing allele and the distal asPAM SNPs. Here, we describe a novel CRISPR-based method (CRISPR-hapC) for haplotyping. Based on the generation (with a pair of CRISPRs) of extrachromosomal circular DNA in cells, the CRISPR-hapC can map haplotypes from a few hundred bases to over 200 Mb. To streamline and demonstrate the applicability of the CRISPR-hapC and asPAM CRISPR for allele-specific gene editing, we reanalyzed the 1000 human pan-genome and generated a high frequency asPAM SNP and CRISPR database (www.crispratlas.com/knockout) for four CRISPR systems (SaCas9, SpCas9, xCas9 and Cas12a). Using the huntingtin (HTT) CAG expansion and transthyretin (TTR) exon 2 mutation as examples, we showed that the asPAM CRISPRs can specifically discriminate active and dead PAMs for all 23 loci tested. Combination of the CRISPR-hapC and asPAM CRISPRs further demonstrated the capability for achieving highly accurate and haplotype-specific deletion of the HTT CAG expansion allele and TTR exon 2 mutation in human cells. Taken together, our study provides a new approach and an important resource for genome research and allele-specific (haplotype-specific) gene therapy.

LION: a simple and rapid method to achieve CRISPR gene editing.

The RNA-guided CRISPR-Cas9 technology has paved the way for rapid and cost-effective gene editing. However, there is still a great need for effective methods for rapid generation and validation of CRISPR/Cas9 gRNAs. Previously, we have demonstrated that highly efficient generation of multiplexed CRISPR guide RNA (gRNA) expression array can be achieved with Golden Gate Assembly (GGA). Here, we present an optimized and rapid method for generation and validation in less than 1 day of CRISPR gene targeting vectors. The method (LION) is based on ligation of double-stranded gRNA oligos into CRISPR vectors with GGA followed by nucleic acid purification. Using a dual-fluorescent reporter vector (C-Check), T7E1 assay, TIDE assay and a traffic light reporter assay, we proved that the LION-based generation of CRISPR vectors are functionally active, and equivalent to CRISPR plasmids generated by traditional methods. We also tested the activity of LION CRISPR vectors in different human cell types. The LION method presented here advances the rapid functional validation and application of CRISPR system for gene editing and simplified the CRISPR gene-editing procedures.

Fusion of SpCas9 to E. coli Rec A protein enhances CRISPR-Cas9 mediated gene knockout in mammalian cells.

Mammalian cells repair double-strand DNA breaks (DSB) by a range of different pathways following DSB induction by the engineered clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-associated protein Cas9. While CRISPR-Cas9 thus enables predesigned modifications of the genome, applications of CRISPR-Cas9-mediated genome-editing are frequently hampered by the unpredictable and varying pathways for DSB repair in mammalian cells. Here we present a strategy of fusing Cas9 to recombinant proteins for fine-tuning of the DSB repair preferences in mammalian cells. By fusing Streptococcus Pyogenes Cas9 (SpCas9) to the recombinant protein A (Rec A, NP_417179.1) from Escherichia coli, we create a recombinant Cas9 protein (rSpCas9) which enhances the generation of indel mutations at DSB sites in mammalian cells, increases the frequency of DSB repair by homology-directed single-strand annealing (SSA), and represses homology-directed gene conversion by approximately 33%. Our study thus proves for the first time that fusing SpCas9 to recombinant proteins can influence the balance between DSB repair pathways in mammalian cells. This approach may form the basis for further investigations of the applications of recombinant Cas9 proteins to fine-tuning DSB repair pathways in eukaryotic cells.

Enhanced genome editing in mammalian cells with a modified dual-fluorescent surrogate system.

Programmable DNA nucleases such as TALENs and CRISPR/Cas9 are emerging as powerful tools for genome editing. Dual-fluorescent surrogate systems have been demonstrated by several studies to recapitulate DNA nuclease activity and enrich for genetically edited cells. In this study, we created a single-strand annealing-directed, dual-fluorescent surrogate reporter system, referred to as C-Check. We opted for the Golden Gate Cloning strategy to simplify C-Check construction. To demonstrate the utility of the C-Check system, we used the C-Check in combination with TALENs or CRISPR/Cas9 in different scenarios of gene editing experiments. First, we disrupted the endogenous pIAPP gene (3.0 % efficiency) by C-Check-validated TALENs in primary porcine fibroblasts (PPFs). Next, we achieved gene-editing efficiencies of 9.0-20.3 and 4.9 % when performing single- and double-gene targeting (MAPT and SORL1), respectively, in PPFs using C-Check-validated CRISPR/Cas9 vectors. Third, fluorescent tagging of endogenous genes (MYH6 and COL2A1, up to 10.0 % frequency) was achieved in human fibroblasts with C-Check-validated CRISPR/Cas9 vectors. We further demonstrated that the C-Check system could be applied to enrich for IGF1R null HEK293T cells and CBX5 null MCF-7 cells with frequencies of nearly 100.0 and 86.9 %, respectively. Most importantly, we further showed that the C-Check system is compatible with multiplexing and for studying CRISPR/Cas9 sgRNA specificity. The C-Check system may serve as an alternative dual-fluorescent surrogate tool for measuring DNA nuclease activity and enrichment of gene-edited cells, and may thereby aid in streamlining programmable DNA nuclease-mediated genome editing and biological research.