Repurposing Type I-A CRISPR-Cas3 for a robust diagnosis of human papillomavirus (HPV).

ABSTRACT

R-loop-triggered collateral single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) nuclease activity within Class 1 Type I CRISPR-Cas systems holds immense potential for nucleic acid detection. However, the hyperactive ssDNase activity of Cas3 introduces unwanted noise and false-positive results. In this study, we identified a novel Type I-A Cas3 variant derived from Thermococcus siculi, which remains in an auto-inhibited state until it is triggered by Cascade complex and R-loop formation. This Type I-A CRISPR-Cas3 system not only exhibits an expanded protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) recognition capability but also demonstrates remarkable intolerance towards mismatched sequences. Furthermore, it exhibits dual activation modes-responding to both DNA and RNA targets. The culmination of our research efforts has led to the development of the Hyper-Active-Verification Establishment (HAVE, ). This innovation enables swift and precise human papillomavirus (HPV) diagnosis in clinical samples, providing a robust molecular diagnostic tool based on the Type I-A CRISPR-Cas3 system. Our findings contribute to understanding type I-A CRISPR-Cas3 system regulation and facilitate the creation of advanced diagnostic solutions with broad clinical applicability.