Prime editing(PE)is a recent gene editing technology that can mediate insertions or deletions and all twelve types of base-tobase conversions.However,its low efficiency hampers the application in creating novel breeds...Prime editing(PE)is a recent gene editing technology that can mediate insertions or deletions and all twelve types of base-tobase conversions.However,its low efficiency hampers the application in creating novel breeds and biomedical models,especially in pigs and other important farm animals.Here,we demonstrate that the pig genome is editable using the PE system,but the editing efficiency was quite low as expected.Therefore,we aimed to enhance PE efficiency by modulating both exogenous PE tools and endogenous pathways in porcine embryonic fibroblasts(PEFs).First,we modified the peg RNA by extending the duplex length and mutating the fourth thymine in a continuous sequence of thymine bases to cytosine,which significantly enhanced PE efficiency by improving the expression of peg RNA and targeted cleavage.Then,we targeted SAMHD1,a deoxynucleoside triphosphate triphosphohydrolase(d NTPase)that impedes the reverse transcription process in retroviruses,and found that treatment with its inhibitor,cephalosporin C zinc salt(CPC),increased PE efficiency up to 29-fold(4-fold on average),presumably by improving the reverse transcription process of Moloney murine leukemia virus reverse transcriptase(M-MLV RT)in the PE system.Moreover,PE efficiency was obviously improved by treatment with a panel of histone deacetylase inhibitors(HDACis).Among the four HDACis tested,panobinostat was the most efficient,with an efficiency up to 122-fold(7-fold on average),partly due to the considerable HDACi-mediated increase in transgene expression.In addition,the synergistic use of the three strategies further enhanced PE efficiency in PEFs.Our study provides novel approaches for optimization of the PE system and broadens the application scope of PE in agriculture and biomedicine.展开更多
基金supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2020YFA0509503,2022YFF0710703,2021YFA0805902)the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (31925036,32025034)+3 种基金the Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by the China Association for Science and Technology (2019QNRC001)the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31801031)the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA16030304)Lingnan Modern Agriculture Project (NT2021005)。
文摘Prime editing(PE)is a recent gene editing technology that can mediate insertions or deletions and all twelve types of base-tobase conversions.However,its low efficiency hampers the application in creating novel breeds and biomedical models,especially in pigs and other important farm animals.Here,we demonstrate that the pig genome is editable using the PE system,but the editing efficiency was quite low as expected.Therefore,we aimed to enhance PE efficiency by modulating both exogenous PE tools and endogenous pathways in porcine embryonic fibroblasts(PEFs).First,we modified the peg RNA by extending the duplex length and mutating the fourth thymine in a continuous sequence of thymine bases to cytosine,which significantly enhanced PE efficiency by improving the expression of peg RNA and targeted cleavage.Then,we targeted SAMHD1,a deoxynucleoside triphosphate triphosphohydrolase(d NTPase)that impedes the reverse transcription process in retroviruses,and found that treatment with its inhibitor,cephalosporin C zinc salt(CPC),increased PE efficiency up to 29-fold(4-fold on average),presumably by improving the reverse transcription process of Moloney murine leukemia virus reverse transcriptase(M-MLV RT)in the PE system.Moreover,PE efficiency was obviously improved by treatment with a panel of histone deacetylase inhibitors(HDACis).Among the four HDACis tested,panobinostat was the most efficient,with an efficiency up to 122-fold(7-fold on average),partly due to the considerable HDACi-mediated increase in transgene expression.In addition,the synergistic use of the three strategies further enhanced PE efficiency in PEFs.Our study provides novel approaches for optimization of the PE system and broadens the application scope of PE in agriculture and biomedicine.
